Two space missions set to go ahead with UK involvement

The missions, Solar Orbiter and Euclid, are part of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Cosmic Vision programme and were originally selected from more than 50 missions.

Due for launch between 2017 and 2019, Solar Orbiter and Euclid are expected to unlock the secrets of the Sun and help further understanding of dark energy respectively.

The UK is playing a major role in the design of Solar Orbiter as Stevenage-based EADS Astrium is leading the industrial study. UK scientists from University College London (UCL), Imperial College London and STFC Rutherford Laboratory are involved in four out of the 10 instruments for deployment on the spacecraft to study the Sun.

Solar Orbiter is designed to travel closer to our own star than any previous Sun-watching mission. It will carry out in-depth studies of the connections between the Sun and interplanetary space.

The spacecraft will travel up to the Sun’s higher latitudes using an elliptical orbit to image, for the first time ever, the polar regions of our star. This special path will also allow Solar Orbiter to keep pace with the Sun’s rotation so that it can track specific features below it for several weeks at a time.