Exploring the Solar System

Video produced 6 years after SOHO began operation, half-way through a solar cycle, after the launch of Cassini-Huygens, before SMART-1, Rosetta or Mars Express were launched. Unfortunately, the Beagle 2 Mars lander was declared lost after it failed to make contact with orbiting spacecraft and Earth-based radio telescopes. ESA has placed a strong emphasis on studying the Solar System, especially the interactions of the solar wind with Earth's magnetosphere. Ulysses has flown over the magnetic poles of the Sun, while SOHO launched five years later during a solar activity minimum, sits in the middle of the stream of solar particles that is heading towards Earth. The satellite also oberved comets falling into the Sun and studied solar energetic particles and their harmful effects to space-based and terrestrial infrastructure. ESA's four-satellite Cluster constellation was launched to study the interaction of solar wind and particles on Earth's magnetosphere. With SOHO and Cluster, it is possible to forecast the effectof solar wind on Earth. Illustrations of Solar Orbiter scheduled to fly in 2011 (at the time of recording).