Solar Orbiter solar array deployment

Artist's impression of Solar Orbiter following launch and separation, with its solar arrays deployed. The instrument boom and antennas have not been deployed at this stage.

Solar Orbiter is a space mission of international collaboration between ESA and NASA. Its mission is to perform unprecedented close-up observations of the Sun and from high latitudes, providing the first images of the uncharted polar regions of the Sun, and investigating the Sun-Earth connection. It is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA in February 2020.