This effort will include using its remote picking up instruments, like the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager to image the Sun, as well as in-situ instruments to determine the solar wind as it flows past the spacecraft.
Observing specific targets of scientific interest on the Sun requires close coordination in between flight control groups and the flight characteristics specialists at ESAs ESOC objective control centre, in Germany, and teams at the science operations center at ESAC, in Spain.
ESA groups are utilizing the full-disc telescopes on board Solar Orbiter to identify dynamic activity– like moving sunspots– on the surface area, then will use these particular locations to determine precise pointing of the narrow-angle imager for later detailed observation.
Since the instruments are repaired in place to the spacecraft body, the entire spacecraft should be pointed with high precision to point to particular sunspots.
This cycle of using wide-angle images to select specific narrow-angle targets, then feeding the required pointing back into flight control instructions takes location daily, with each model taking three days from initial imaging to uplink of new pointing guidelines.
While such close coordination occurs throughout the objective, the cycle is much accelerated during perihelion passage to ensure the finest possible scientific value from up close to the Sun.
The ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter spacecraft simply made its historical first close pass of the Sun, which happened midday on March 26, 2022.
In the days leading up to and around Perihelion passage, groups at ESA worked intensively on an observation project, and all ten instruments will be operating simultaneously to gather as much data as possible.
By European Space Firm (ESA).
March 27, 2022.
