Building Solar Orbiter

This timelapse shows some of the activities that took place during the integration of ESA's Solar Orbiter in the Hercules cleanroom at Airbus Defence and Space, Stevenage, UK.

Solar Orbiter is an ESA mission with strong NASA participation. The prime contractor is Airbus Defence and Space in Stevenage, UK. Solar Orbiter will launch on a NASA-provided Atlas V 411 in February 2020.

The mission will provide new perspectives on our star, including the first images of the Sun’s polar regions. Its complementary suite of instruments means it will be able to study the plasma environment locally around the spacecraft, and collect data from the Sun from afar, connecting the dots between the Sun’s activity, and the space environment in the inner Solar System.