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A28 SCIENCE
Tuesday 11 February 2020
Solar Orbiter blasts off to capture 1st look at sun's poles

By MARCIA DUNN (3-meter-by-2.4-meter heat
AP Aerospace Writer shield is just 15 inches (38
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. centimeters) thick, and
(AP) — Europe and NASA's made of titanium foil with
Solar Orbiter rocketed into gaps in between to shed
space Sunday night on an heat. It can withstand
unprecedented mission to temperatures up to nearly
capture the first pictures of 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit
the sun's elusive poles. (530 degrees Celsius).
"We're on the way to the Embedded in the heat
sun. Go Solar Orbiter!" said shield are five peepholes
Cesar Garcia Marirrodriga, of varying sizes that will stay
project manager for the open just long enough for
European Space Agency. the science instruments to
"It's a fantastic moment ... take measurements in X-
it's like, well, we're unstop- ray, ultraviolet, visible and
pable." other wavelengths.
The $1.5 billion spacecraft The observations will shed
will join NASA's Parker So- light on other stars, provid-
lar Probe, launched 1 1/2 This illustration made available by NASA depicts the Solar Orbiter satellite in front of the Sun. ing clues as to the poten-
years ago, in coming peril- On Sunday, Feb. 9, 2020, NASA and the European Space Agency have planned to launch the tial habitability of worlds in
ously close to the sun to un- spacecraft on a mission to the sun to get close-up views of its polar regions. other solar systems.
veil its secrets. Associated Press Closer to home, the find-
While Solar Orbiter won't The rocket was visible for the sun, an all-time record, "With Solar Observatory ings will help scientists bet-
venture close enough to four full minutes after liftoff, and is shooting for a slim looking right down at the ter predict space weather,
penetrate the sun's coro- a brilliant star piercing the gap of 4 million miles (6 mil- poles, we'll be able to see which can disrupt commu-
na, or crown-like outer at- night sky. Europe's project lion kilometers) by 2025. But these huge coronal hole nications.
mosphere, like Parker, it will scientist Daniel Mueller was it's flying nowhere near the structures," said Nicola "We need to know how the
maneuver into a unique thrilled, calling it "picture poles. That's where Solar Fox, director of NASA's he- sun affects the local envi-
out-of-plane orbit that will perfect." His NASA counter- Orbiter will shine. liophysics division. "That's ronment here on Earth, and
take it over both poles, part, scientist Holly Gilbert, The sun's poles are pock- where all the fast solar wind also Mars and the moon
never photographed be- exclaimed, "One word: marked with dark, con- comes from ... It really is a when we move there," said
fore. Together with power- Wow." stantly shifting coronal completely different view." Ian Walters, project man-
ful ground observatories, NASA declared success 1 holes. They're hubs for the To protect the sensitive in- ager for Airbus Defence
the sun-staring space duo 1/2 hours later, once the sun's magnetic field, flip- struments from the sun's blis- and Space, which de-
will be like an orchestra, Solar Orbiter's solar wings ping polarity every 11 years. tering heat, engineers de- signed and built the space-
according to Gunther Has- were unfurled. Solar Orbiter's head-on vised a heat shield with an craft. "We've been lucky so
inger, the European Space Solar Orbiter — a boxy views should finally yield a outer black coating made far the last 150 years," since
Agency's science director. 4,000-pound (1,800-kilo- full 3-D view of the sun, 93 of burned bone charcoal a colossal solar storm last
"Every instrument plays a gram) spacecraft with spin- million miles (150 million ki- similar to what was used hit. "We need to predict
different tune, but together dly instrument booms and lometers) from our home in prehistoric cave paint- that. We just can't wait for
they play the symphony of antennas — will swing past planet. ings. The 10-foot-by-8-foot it to happen."q
the sun," Hasinger said. Venus in December and
Solar Orbiter was made again next year, and then Antarctica appears to
in Europe, along with nine past Earth, using the plan-
science instruments. NASA ets' gravity to alter its path. have broken a heat record
provided the 10th instru- Full science operations will
ment and arranged the begin in late 2021, with the
late-night launch from first close solar encounter By CHRISTINA LARSON to confirm.
Cape Canaveral. in 2022 and more every six AP Science Writer The research base, called
Nearly 1,000 scientists and months. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Esperanza, sits on a pen-
engineers from across Eu- At its closest approach, So- temperature in northern insula that juts up toward
rope gathered with their lar Orbiter will come within Antarctica hit nearly 65 the southern tip of South
U.S. colleagues under a full 26 million miles (42 million degrees (18.3 degrees America. The peninsula
moon as United Launch Al- kilometers) of the sun, well Celsius), a likely heat re- has warmed significantly In this undated file photo,
liance's Atlas V rocket blast- within the orbit of Mercury. cord on the continent over the past half cen- a lonely penguin appears
ed off, illuminating the sky Parker Solar Probe, by con- best known for snow, ice tury — almost 5.4 degrees in Antarctica during the
for miles around. Crowds trast, has already passed and penguins. (3 C), according to the southern hemisphere's
summer season.
also jammed nearby roads within 11.6 million miles The reading was taken World Meteorological Or- Associated Press
and beaches. (18.6 million kilometers) of Thursday at an Argentine ganization.
research base and still Cerveny said the unusu- regions — faster than oth-
needs to be verified by ally high temperature er regions of the planet.
the World Meteorological was likely due, in the short The Arctic is warming
Organization. term, to a rapid warming more than twice as fast
"Everything we have seen of air coming down from as the rest of the globe,
thus far indicates a likely a mountain slope. according to an annual
legitimate record," Ran- The previous record of report published in De-
dall Cerveny, who re- 63.5 degrees (17.5 C) was cember by the National
searches records for the set in March 2015. Oceanic and Atmospher-
organization, said in a Climate change is heat- ic Administration. There is
statement. He added that ing up Antarctica and the no similar yearly report for
he is waiting for full data Arctic — the Earth's polar Antarctica.q