On its mission to the sun, the Solar Orbiter probe flew very close to Venus. According to the European space agency Esa it was on Sunday at 11: 39 clock (and 20 seconds) Central European Time only 7448 kilometers from Venus. “Everything went smoothly, there were no problems,” said the head of the Esa mission operations in the control center in Darmstadt, Simon Plum, on Monday.

Pole of the sun in view Details on the exact flight path will be given in the next week, when the navigation data have been evaluated. Due to the corona, only a small team had observed the flyby in the control center. A lot of things happen from home, says Plum. “The probe is slowed down and the orbit changed so that we can take a new look at the poles of the sun in the future.”

The approximately 1.5 billion euro mission of Esa and the US The space agency Nasa was launched in February from Cape Canaveral in the US state of Florida. “Currently the probe is 231 millions of kilometers from the earth and 108 Millions of kilometers from the sun, “said the expert. There are ten scientific instruments on board the 1.8-ton orbiter. Researchers hope to gain new knowledge about the sun and the magnetic field that drives solar storms or eruptions and thus also has an impact on our home planet.

Solar Orbiter: First images (01 Pictures) Solar Orbiter approached in June 2020 the sun on 77 Millions of kilometers.

(Image: NASA) Titanium heat shield Solar Orbiter should up to 42 Fly millions of kilometers to the sun. In order to be protected from temperatures of several hundred degrees, the probe has a titanium heat shield. First images of the orbiter from a distance of 77 million kilometers were presented in July. According to experts, no mission to take pictures of the star has been this close. The first data from the mission have also been available in the Solar Orbiter Archive since the end of September.

(Image: ESA)

The flyby of Venus is the first of several maneuvers around the planet. In the years to come, Solar Orbiter will use the force of gravity of Venus again and again to change its orbit so that it can absorb the sun from different perspectives. The next flyby of Venus is planned for August 8th 2021. Overall, the probe should orbit the sun 22 – times .

(acb)