Joint US-European Solar Orbiter 'go' for Sunday launch to study sun's poles

[LazyHippo]

Its seems we are sending a probe that will examinate our big star to expect more information about its activity:

 

After a decade of development — and many more years of planning before that — the ambitious Solar Orbiter mission is ready to launch and take the first close look at the poles of the sun.

The spacecraft, which is a joint venture between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), is scheduled to lift off Sunday (Feb. 9) during  a two-hour window starting at 11:03 p.m. EST (0403 GMT on Feb. 10)  from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. There is an 80 percent chance of good launch weather, according to the United launch Alliance, which is providing the Atlas V rocket for them mission. 

After deploying antennas, solar panels and a boom a few hours after launch, Solar Orbiter will depart Earth for an approximately 10-year mission that will mostly see it slingshot back and forth between the sun and Venus. Its overall goal is to learn about the heliosphere, or the bubble of the sun's particles that extends throughout the solar system.

 

 

More: https://www.space.com/solar-orbiter-nasa-esa-go-for-launch.html