A spacecraft developed by European scientists and companies has captured unprecedented new views of the Sun’s south pole.
Built by Airbus in the UK, Solar Orbiter was developed as part of a joint mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA. The probe launched on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 411 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida in 2020.
A number of European tech firms also contributed to the mission. One of them is Dublin-based Enbio, which developed a protective coating for the probe using crushed animal bones. It’s one of the more unusual materials ever flown into space — and it plays a vital role in shielding Solar Orbiter from the Sun’s intense heat and radiation. The spacecraft will fly closer to the Sun than any other probe in history, crucial to getting a better view of our nearest star.
Before Solar Orbiter, all the images of the Sun had been taken from the ecliptic plane, the flat path along which Earth and its space satellites orbit. That’s made it impossible to view the poles directly.
Solar Orbiter has gained a new perspective by tilting its orbit out of the ecliptic plane to unseen angles of our nearest star. To achieve this, the probe performed repeated flybys of Venus and Earth, using their gravity to gain the momentum needed to enter an entirely new orbit around the sun.
In March, Solar Orbiter reached a viewing angle of 17° below the solar equator. The probe captured several images from this vantage point using a suite of scientific instruments that observe the Sun in visible, ultraviolet, and extreme ultraviolet light. The combined data offers a multi-layered look into one of the least unexplored frontiers of our nearest star.
The unprecedented views could improve scientists’ understanding of the Sun’s magnetic field and the solar cycle. They may also shed new light on the origins of solar storms — the energetic outbursts that can disrupt satellites, power grids, and communications on Earth.
Professor Carole Mundell, ESA’s director of science, said the mission marked a “new era” for solar science.
“The Sun is our nearest star, giver of life, and potential disruptor of modern space and ground power systems, so it is imperative that we understand how it works and learn to predict its behaviour,” she said.
A magnetic mess
Solar Orbiter’s latest data reveals the Sun’s magnetic south pole in a state of chaos, with a mix of north and south magnetic fields rather than a single dominant one, like on Earth. This is characteristic of the Sun’s 11-year activity cycle when its magnetic field flips.
The spacecraft also captured the movement of solar particles above the south pole, uncovering swirling flows of hot plasma that suggest the presence of polar vortices in Sun’s atmosphere. These complex dynamics, unseen from Earth or traditional orbits, could provide new clues about how the Sun’s magnetic field works and drives the solar wind.
Enbio isn’t the only tech firm behind Solar Orbiter’s recent accomplishments. Portugal’s Active Space Technologies developed precision feedthroughs that allow UV light to enter the spacecraft’s instruments without exposing them to intense heat. Another Portuguese company, Critical Software, supplied the probe’s diagnostics and onboard software, while Irish software startup Captec provided software verification and validation for the probe’s onboard flight software.
All this tech has opened the door to unprecedented views of the Sun — and the best may be yet to come. Over the coming years, Solar Orbiter will tilt even further out of the ecliptic, eventually reaching 33° above the solar equator, giving a new perspective on the Sun’s fiery nature.
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