Solar Orbiter (SolO) is a planned Sun-observing satellite, under development by the European Space Agency (ESA).
The main mission scenario is a launch by a NASA EELV or an Atlas V from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in January 2017. SolO is intended to perform detailed measurements of the inner heliosphere and nascent solar wind, and perform close observations of the polar regions of the Sun, which is difficult to do from Earth, both serving to answer the question 'How does the Sun create and control the heliosphere?'. The Solar Orbiter will make observations of the Sun from an eccentric orbit.
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