Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio, Hey brain
Speaker 1: Stuff Lauren Vogelbaum. Here. A newly launched spacecraft promises to
Speaker 1: broaden our understanding of the Sun. Called Solar Orbiter, or
Speaker 1: the Solo for short, it left Cape Canaveral Air Force
Speaker 1: Station in central Florida on Sunday, February nine at three pm.
Speaker 1: The new probe is part of an international collaboration between
Speaker 1: NASA and the European Space Agency or e s A.
Speaker 1: Both parties contributed to its arsenal of scientific instruments. Some
Speaker 1: of these gadgets will remotely image the Sun, its atmosphere
Speaker 1: and the materials its views. Fourth others are built to
Speaker 1: keep tabs on the spacecraft's immediate surroundings. During the wee
Speaker 1: hours of February, the European Space Operations Center in Darmstadt,
Speaker 1: Germany got a signal confirming the orbiters onboard solar panels
Speaker 1: were functioning correctly. So begins a seven year planned mission.
Speaker 1: The orbiter is supposed to take to Paraphry Robert Frost,
Speaker 1: the route less traveled. You see, all the planets in
Speaker 1: our solar system revolve around the Sun on the same
Speaker 1: general plane, give or take a few degrees, called the
Speaker 1: ecliptic plane. It's like a giant invisible disc, one that
Speaker 1: very nearly lines up with Sun's equator. Most of our
Speaker 1: space bearing devices are gravitationally confined to this plane, but
Speaker 1: the Solo is meant to escape it by exploiting the
Speaker 1: gravity of Earth and Venus. The pro will orbit the
Speaker 1: Sun on a unique and tilted pathway. This unique trajectory
Speaker 1: will give the solo twenty two close approaches to the
Speaker 1: Sun as close as twenty six million miles or thirty
Speaker 1: five million kilometers, as well is bring it within the
Speaker 1: orbit of Mercury to study the Sun's influence on space.
Speaker 1: It will also give the Solo the chance to do
Speaker 1: something no craft has ever done before, take pictures of
Speaker 1: the solar poles looking down from above or up from below.
Speaker 1: Just like Earth, the Sun has a north and south pole.
Speaker 1: In twenty eighteen, the e s A used data from
Speaker 1: the Probe but two satellite to try to determine what
Speaker 1: the northern pole looks like, but Proba two couldn't photograph
Speaker 1: this region directly. If all goes according to plan, the
Speaker 1: Solo will do just that. It's first close passed by
Speaker 1: the Sun will be in twenty two at about a
Speaker 1: third the distance from the Sun to Earth. And that's
Speaker 1: just the beginning. Another mission involves the Solo partnering up
Speaker 1: with the Parker Solar Probe, launched in twenty eighteen. The
Speaker 1: spacecraft is able to fly much closer to the Sun
Speaker 1: than the solo, ever will Comparing the feedback from both
Speaker 1: probes ought to tell us a great deal about the
Speaker 1: mysterious phenomenon called solar wind which are streams of charged particles.
Speaker 1: Any polar pictures that the Solo gives us should provide
Speaker 1: relevant insights too. The Sun's polar regions probably have a
Speaker 1: big effect on its atmosphere as a whole, along with
Speaker 1: the winds it unleashes. The solo's unique travel plans will
Speaker 1: put it in contact with intense heat and extreme cold.
Speaker 1: The probe is going to revolve around the Sun in
Speaker 1: a very long, very narrow, oval shaped orbit. As it
Speaker 1: nears the star, things will get rather toasty, and that's
Speaker 1: why designers fitted the solar orbiter with a reflective heat
Speaker 1: shield coated in titanium foil. According to NASA, this shield
Speaker 1: can withstand temperatures as high as nine hundred and seventy
Speaker 1: degrees fahrenheit or five and twenty degrees celsius. It's also
Speaker 1: got radiators designed to ventilate excess heat produced within the
Speaker 1: craft itself. But of course scientists aren't just interested in
Speaker 1: the solar poles. One of NASA's upcoming Artemis lunar missions
Speaker 1: is supposed to land the first astronaut at the Moon's
Speaker 1: southern pole. None of the Apollo Ara moonwalkers ever made
Speaker 1: it that far below the equator. Today's episode was written
Speaker 1: by Mark Mancini and produced by Tyler Clang. For more
Speaker 1: Onless and lots of other far reaching topics, visit how
Speaker 1: stuffworks dot com. Brain Stuff is production of I heart Radio.
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