New Mission Will Take First Peek at Sun’s Poles

A new spacecraft is journeying to the Sun to snap the first pictures of the Sun’s north and south poles. Solar Orbiter, a collaboration between ESA (the European Space Agency) and NASA will have its first opportunity to launch from Cape Canaveral on Feb. 7, 2020, at 11:15 p.m. EST. Launching on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, the spacecraft will use Venus’ and Earth’s gravity to swing itself out of the ecliptic plane — the swath of space, roughly aligned with the Sun’s equator, where all planets orbit. From there, Solar Orbiter's bird’s eye view will give it the first-ever look at the Sun's poles. Music credits: “Oxide” and “Virtual Tidings” by Andrew Michael Britton [PRS], David Stephen Goldsmith [PRS]; “Progressive Practice” by Emmanuel David Lipszc [SACEM], Franck Lascombes [SACEM], Sebastien Lipszyc [SACEM]; “Political Spectrum” by Laurent Dury [SACEM] from Universal Production Music. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Holly Gilbert (NASA/GSFC): Scientist Teresa Nieves-Chinchilla (Catholic University of America): Scientist Chris St. Cyr (NASA/GSFC): Scientist Joy Ng (USRA): Producer Tom Bridgman (GST): Data Visualizer Adriana Manrique Gutierrez (USRA): Animator Chris Smith (USRA): Animator Joy Ng (USRA): Animator Lisa Poje (USRA): Animator Krystofer Kim (USRA): Animator Brian Monroe (USRA): Animator Miles S. Hatfield (Telophase): Writer