Solar Orbiter: The US-European mission to explore the sun's poles in photos

(Image credit: Stephane Corvaja/ESA)

The European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter (opens in new tab), a spacecraft designed to observe the sun in incredible, scorching detail, launched to our star on Feb. 9, 2020, on a mission to try and solve some solar mysteries.

The spacecraft will launch atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 11:03 p.m. EST (0403 GMT on Feb. 10).

Full story: Solar Orbiter launches on historic mission to study the sun's poles (opens in new tab)

(Image credit: ESA)

This is the mission patch for Solar Orbiter. 

The $1.5 billion craft, which is a joint collaborative venture between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), will give scientists the first-ever good look at our sun's poles.

(Image credit: United Launch Alliance)

The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket and Solar Orbiter sit on Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral at sunset, on Feb. 8, 2020.

(Image credit: ESA/ATG medialab)

Scientists hope that these new observations will allow them to solve some long standing mysteries about the sun. The 3,970-lb. (1,800 kg) spacecraft will fly by Venus and Earth several times to swing into a unique orbit around the sun to make these observations.

(Image credit: ESA/ATG medialab)

This illustration shows what Solar Orbiter might look like during its gravity assist flyby of Earth.  

(Image credit: ESA/ATG medialab)

This illustration shows what Solar Orbiter might look like as it flies by Venus. 

(Image credit: Airbus)

Solar Orbiter being loaded with propellants during processing activities inside the Astrotech Space Operations facility in Titusville, Florida.

(Image credit: S. Corvaja/ESA)

The fairing of the Atlas V rocket and the European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter spacecraft are pictured at the Astrotech payload processing facility near Kennedy Space Center in Florida during launch preparations, on Jan. 21, 2020.

(Image credit: S. Corvaja/ESA)

The fairing of the US Atlas V 411 rocket with the European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter spacecraft inside at the Astrotech payload processing facility near Kennedy Space Center in Florida during launch preparations, on Jan. 21, 2020. 

(Image credit: United Launch Alliance)

The European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter launches atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 9, 2020, at 11:03 p.m. EST (0403 GMT on Feb. 10). 

(Image credit: Ben Smegelsky/NASA)

Solar Orbiter arrived aboard an Antonov An-124 cargo plane at NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch and Landing Facility on Nov. 1, 2019. 

(Image credit: Ben Smegelsky/NASA)

The booster of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket which will launch the Solar Orbiter spacecraft on Feb. 9, 2020.

(Image credit: ESA/Airbus)

Solar Orbiter is on a work stand for processing inside Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Florida on Jan. 16, 2020. 

(Image credit: S. Corvaja/ESA)

The fairing of the Atlas V rocket and the European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter spacecraft are pictured at the Astrotech payload processing facility near Kennedy Space Center in Florida during launch preparations, on Jan. 21, 2020.

(Image credit: S. Corvaja/ESA)

The fairing of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V 411 rocket with the European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter spacecraft inside at the Astrotech payload processing facility near Kennedy Space Center in Florida during launch preparations, on Jan. 21, 2020.

(Image credit: Ben Smegelsky/NASA)

Both halves of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V payload fairing are joined around Solar Orbiter in the Astrotech Space Operations facility in Titusville, Florida, on Jan. 20, 2020.

(Image credit: ESA/Airbus)

A peek inside inside of the United Launch Alliance payload fairing as it's being put around Solar Orbiter on Jan. 20, 2020. 

(Image credit: Ben Smegelsky/NASA)

Solar Orbiter prepares for encapsulation in the United Launch Alliance Atlas V payload fairing inside the Astrotech Space Operations facility in Titusville, Florida, on Jan. 20, 2020.

(Image credit: Ben Smegelsky/NASA)

From above, you can see the United Launch Alliance Atlas V payload fairing, containing the Solar Orbiter spacecraft, is hoisted up by crane at the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Jan. 31, 2020. 

(Image credit: ESA)

An artist's illustration of the ESA-NASA Solar Orbiter spacecraft's mission to study the sun's polar regions.

(Image credit: United Launch Alliance)

The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket and Solar Orbiter stand ready for launch on Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral at sunset, on Feb. 8, 2020.

(Image credit: Tony Gray/NASA)

Members of the Goddard Space Flight Center Solar Orbiter Collaboration Project Office, along with Launch Services Program’s (LSP) Jim Behling (back left), launch site integration manager, pose in front of the Solar Orbiter spacecraft inside the Vertical Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 in Florida.

(Image credit: S. Corvaja/ESA)

The United Launch Alliance Atlas V 411 rocket with the European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter spacecraft inside rolled out ahead of launch at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 8, 2020.

(Image credit: S. Corvaja/ESA)

The United Launch Alliance Atlas V 411 rocket with the European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter spacecraft inside rolled out ahead of launch at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 8, 2020.

(Image credit: S. Corvaja/ESA)

The United Launch Alliance Atlas V 411 rocket with the European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter spacecraft inside rolled out ahead of launch at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 8, 2020.

(Image credit: United Launch Alliance)

The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket and Solar Orbiter sit on Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral at sunset, on Feb. 8, 2020.

(Image credit: United Launch Alliance)

The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket and Solar Orbiter sit on Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral at sunset, on Feb. 8, 2020.

(Image credit: United Launch Alliance)

The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket and Solar Orbiter sit on Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral at sunset, on Feb. 8, 2020.

(Image credit: Stephane Corvaja/ESA)

The European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter launches atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 9, 2020, at 11:03 p.m. EST (0403 GMT on Feb. 10). 

(Image credit: United Launch Alliance)

The European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter launches atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 9, 2020, at 11:03 p.m. EST (0403 GMT on Feb. 10). 

(Image credit: United Launch Alliance)

The European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter launches atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 9, 2020, at 11:03 p.m. EST (0403 GMT on Feb. 10). 

(Image credit: S. Poletti/ESA)

Solar Orbiter has a suite of ten science instruments that will study the sun. The in situ instruments measure the conditions around the spacecraft itself. The remote-sensing instruments measure what is happening at large distances away. 

(Image credit: S. Poletti/ESA)

The Solar Orbiter spacecraft will separate from the launcher around 53 minutes after launch, followed by acquisition of spacecraft signal. In the days after launch, the instrument boom and antennas will be deployed.

(Image credit: S. Poletti/ESA)

During the initial cruise phase, which lasts until November 2021, Solar Orbiter will perform two gravity-assist maneuvers around Venus and one around Earth to alter the spacecraft's trajectory, guiding it towards the innermost regions of the solar system. The first close solar pass will take place in 2022 at around a third of Earth's distance from the sun. 

(Image credit: S. Corvaja/ESA)

As part of its testing campaign to prepare for launch, the European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter spacecraft underwent a special set of tests in a magnetic field simulation facility near the IABG premises in Ottobrunn, Germany.

(Image credit: S. Corvaja/ESA)

The European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter undergoes a solar array deployment test at the IABG facilities in Ottobrunn, Germany on March 21, 2019. The solar panels are suspended from above to simulate the weightlessness of space.

(Image credit: S. Corvaja/ESA)

The European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter undergoes a solar array deployment test at the IABG facilities in Ottobrunn, Germany on March 21, 2019. The solar panels are suspended from above to simulate the weightlessness of space.

(Image credit: S. Corvaja/ESA)

The European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter undergoes a solar array deployment test at the IABG facilities in Ottobrunn, Germany on March 21, 2019. The solar panels are suspended from above to simulate the weightlessness of space.

(Image credit: S. Corvaja/ESA)

This image captures the scene part way through a solar array deployment test at the IABG facilities in Ottobrunn, Germany. Fully extended, the tip of the array stretches 27 feet (8.2 meters) from the spacecraft body. 

(Image credit: S. Corvaja/ESA)

The European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter undergoing a solar array deployment test at the IABG facilities in Ottobrunn, Germany on March 21, 2019. 

(Image credit: ESA/ATG medialab)

This diagram shows Solar Orbiter's scientific instruments. 

(Image credit: United Launch Alliance)

The United Launch Alliance's "RocketShip" barge arrives at Port Canaveral, Florida to deliver the Atlas V first stage and Centaur upper stage from ULA's factory in Decatur, Alabama on Nov. 20, 2019.

(Image credit: United Launch Alliance)

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V first stage booster is offloaded from the RocketShip transport vessel at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Nov. 21, 2019 to undergo preparations to launch Solar Orbiter on its journey to study the sun.

(Image credit: United Launch Alliance)

United Launch Alliance hoists its Atlas V onto the mobile launch platform at the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, to begin preparations to launch the Solar Orbiter spacecraft for the European Space Agency and NASA. 

(Image credit: United Launch Alliance)

United Launch Alliance hoists its Atlas V onto the mobile launch platform at the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, to begin preparations to launch the Solar Orbiter spacecraft for the European Space Agency and NASA. 

(Image credit: ULA/Twitter)

The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket and Solar Orbiter sit on Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral at sunset, on Feb. 8, 2020.

(Image credit: Kim Shiflett/NASA)

The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with the Solar Orbiter spacecraft arrives at the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Feb. 8, 2020.

(Image credit: Stephane Corvaja/ESA)

The European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter launches atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 9, 2020, at 11:03 p.m. EST (0403 GMT on Feb. 10). 

(Image credit: United Launch Alliance)

The European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter launches atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 9, 2020, at 11:03 p.m. EST (0403 GMT on Feb. 10). 

(Image credit: Stephane Corvaja/ESA)

The European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter launches atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 9, 2020, at 11:03 p.m. EST (0403 GMT on Feb. 10).