The European Space Agency (ESA) has released the first round of information from the probe to the scientific community and the wider public.
The instruments contributing to this data release come from the suite of in-situ instruments that measure the conditions surrounding the spacecraft.
These instruments are the Energetic Particle Detector (EPD), the Radio and Plasma Waves (RPW) instrument, and the Magnetometer (MAG).
Based on the successful approach taken by previous solar physics missions, it was decided that the time between the data being received on Earth and it being released to the world would be at most 90 days.
Yannis Zouganelis, Solar Orbiter deputy project scientist for the ESA, said: “To do this in Covid-19 times was very challenging.
“But we are ready to deliver the data to the scientific community according to the plan, so that they can do science with it.”
We are excited to announce our first data release! The first data are from in-situ instruments that measure #space conditions around the spacecraft
Read more👉https://t.co/5p082JV5Z1
Dive into the archive👉https://t.co/AMruDNv7NU#OpenESA #WeAreAllSolarOrbiters #SolarOrbiter pic.twitter.com/QsCErrqfIx— ESA's Solar Orbiter (@ESASolarOrbiter) September 30, 2020
The job of the MAG was to learn about all the small magnetic fields that the spacecraft itself generates when its various circuits and equipment are switched on and off.
Professor Tim Horbury of Imperial College, and principal investigator of MAG, said the fact the data was ready on time was testament to the hard work of the engineering team at Imperial.
Data... from space! 🚀
Three of @ESASolarOrbiter's instruments, including our very own magnetometer (@SolarOrbiterMAG), have released their first data ☀️
Find out what we've learnt about our Sun ⬇️ https://t.co/JJHFzQFUvjAdvertisement— Imperial College London (@imperialcollege) September 30, 2020
He said: “They have worked incredibly hard over the last few months. It’s been an immense amount of work.
“There’s a lot of it that we’re releasing that nobody’s really looked at in great detail yet.
“So I am sure there will also be a whole extra set of wonders – we just don’t know what they are yet.
“There’s an enormous amount for people to do, and I really hope that people will dive in.”
Once the instruments on the orbiter are taking data, the mission enters a calibration phase in which work is undertaken by each instrument team to understand how their equipment is working in space.
Now any scientist from any country can get the data and do science with it. In fact, there are already hundreds of scientists working together to make sense out of this unique data
Once the working instrument is understood, the teams process the data and send them to the ESA’s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), near Madrid.
There, the data is archived at the ESAC Science Data Centre and made accessible to the public.
At the same time as the data release, a special issue of the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics is being published that contains mission and instrument descriptions.
Mr Zouganelis said: “Now any scientist from any country can get the data and do science with it.
“In fact, there are already hundreds of scientists working together to make sense out of this unique data.”
The researchers want Solar Orbiter to be one of the most open space missions – open to the whole world and not just the teams who have built the instruments.
Dr Caroline Harper, head of space science at the UK Space Agency said: “The only thing more unpredictable than British weather, is space weather.
“But what we do know is that the Sun’s solar flares can produce streams of highly energetic particles and gas capable of reaching Earth.
“These solar flares could damage satellites and cause electrical blackouts on the ground.
“The more we can learn about space weather through missions like the UK-built Solar Orbiter, the more we can predict and protect ourselves from its effects – which is why I am delighted to see the first reports of data today.”
The Solar Orbiter was constructed by Airbus in Stevenage and blasted off from Nasa’s Cape Canaveral site in Florida on February 10.
It has been designed to withstand the scorching heat from the Sun that will hit one side, while maintaining freezing temperatures on the other side of the spacecraft as the orbit keeps it in shadow.
