Data issued from SPICE instrument on Solar Orbiter: data release 4.0

Data issued from SPICE instrument on Solar Orbiter: data release 5.0

1. SPICE System Overview SPICE data contain geometric and other ancillary information needed to recover the full value of science instrument data. In particular, SPICE kernels provide spacecraft and planetary ephemerides, instrument mounting alignments and spacecraft orientation. Data needed for r^ant time conversions is also included. SPICE was designed by the Navigation and Ancillary Information Facility (NAIF) to aid scientists and engineers with ancillary and engineering data. This data comes from a wide range of sources such as the spacecraft, the mission control center and the designers of the spacecraft and its instruments. The ancillary data comprises information on data acquisition; position and orientation of the spacecraft at the time of acquisition; information on the target, such as location, shape and orientation; reference frame specifications and time conversion data. The primary SPICE data sets are often called kernels or kernel files. These kernels are composed of ancillary information, which has been created in such a way as to allow easy access and correct usage by the space science and engineering communities. In addition to the kernels, there is software provided, known as the SPICE Toolkit, along with standards, documentation and software support. The SPICE Toolkit and documentation can be found at: http://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/naif/ The SPICE Toolkit was freely offered to the worldwide space science and space mission engineering communities at the time this data set was released. The few rules governing its use are posted on the Rules page of the NAIF website: https://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/naif/rules.html SPICE is used on a number of space missions, such as ESAs Mars Express, SMART1, Venus Express, ExoMars2016, BepiColombo, Solar Orbiter and Rosetta missions, and all of NASAs solar system exploration missions. The SPICE system has been produced and is maintained by Caltechs Jet truncated!, Please se [truncated!, Please see actual data for full text]

The European Space Agency, ESA, Solar Orbiter mission will study the Sun from a highly elliptical orbit getting as close as 0.28 AU or 42 million km from which it will use a suite of instruments to make high-latitude observations of the Sun and heliosphere, including the magnetic field, energetic particles, solar wind, and transient phenomena.

The Solar Orbiter primary science objectives are to study:

• 1) the drivers of the solar wind and the origin of the coronal magnetic field to determine how solar transients drive heliospheric variability
• 2) learn how solar eruptions produce the energetic particles that fill the heliosphere
• 3) how the solar dynamo works and drives connections between the Sun and the heliosphere

Solar Orbiter comprises a 2.5 m ⨯ 3.0 m ⨯ 2.5 m box-shaped bus with two solar panel wings spanning 18 m to supply power. Total launch mass is 1800 kg. There is a 4.4 m instrument boom and three 6.5 m antennas protruding from the spacecraft body. A carbon fiber composite, titanium layered solar shield covers one side of the spacecraft. The shield has apertures for various instruments. The spacecraft is 3-axis stabilized to keep the heat shield oriented towards the Sun. Telemetry is dual X-band through steerable medium and high-gain antennas. Low gain antennas are used in the launch and early orbit phase and are available for backup.

Solar Orbiter carries two types of instruments, in-situ instruments making direct measurements of the heliospheric environment, and remote sensing instruments, which view the Sun and heliosphere from a distance.

The in-situ instruments comprise:

• 1) Energetic Particle Detector, EPD
• 2) Magnetometer, MAG
• 3) Radio and Plasma Waves sensor, RPW
• 4) Solar Wind Plasma Analyser, SWA

The remote-sensing instruments comprise:

• 1) Extreme Ultraviolet Imager, EUI
• 2) Coronagraph, METIS
• 3) Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager, PHI
• 4) Heliospheric Imager, SoloHI
• 5) Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment, SPICE
• 6) X-ray Spectrometer/Telescope, STIX

The total massm of the scientific payload is 209 kg.

Solar Orbiter launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on 10 February 2020 at 04:03 UT or at 23:03 Eastern Standard Time, EST, on February 9th. The spacecraft launched on an Atlas 5-411 (AV-087) into a short Earth parking orbit followed by injection into an elliptical heliocentric orbit. The first perihelion will be in June 2020. The mission will use six gravity assist maneuvers during the 7-year nominal mission:

+---------------------------------+ | Flyby | Planet | Encounter Date | |---------------------------------| | 1 | Venus | 2020-12-26 | | 2 | Venus | 2021-08-08 | | 3 | Earth | 2021-11-26 | | 4 | Venus | 2022-09-03 | | 5 | Venus | 2025-02-18 | | 6 | Venus | 2026-12-28 | +---------------------------------+

The series of encounters will tilt the spacecraft orbit to an inclination of 25° and will yield an orbit with a perihelion of 0.28 AU, an aphelion of 0.91 AU, and a period of 168 days. Solar Orbiter will make fourteen perihelion passes during the nominal mission. If a three year extended mission is approved, Solar Orbiter will make three more Venus flybys that will bring the inclination to 33°.

+---------------------------------+ | Flyby | Planet | Encounter Date | |---------------------------------| | 7 | Venus | 2028-03-17 | | 8 | Venus | 2029-06-10 | | 9 | Venus | 2030-09-02 | +---------------------------------+

The extended mission will involve an additional eight more perihelion passes.

1. SPICE System Overview SPICE data contain geometric and other ancillary information needed to recover the full value of science instrument data. In particular, SPICE kernels provide spacecraft and planetary ephemerides, instrument mounting alignments and spacecraft orientation. Data needed for r^ant time conversions is also included. SPICE was designed by the Navigation and Ancillary Information Facility (NAIF) to aid scientists and engineers with ancillary and engineering data. This data comes from a wide range of sources such as the spacecraft, the mission control center and the designers of the spacecraft and its instruments. The ancillary data comprises information on data acquisition; position and orientation of the spacecraft at the time of acquisition; information on the target, such as location, shape and orientation; reference frame specifications and time conversion data. The primary SPICE data sets are often called kernels or kernel files. These kernels are composed of ancillary information, which has been created in such a way as to allow easy access and correct usage by the space science and engineering communities. In addition to the kernels, there is software provided, known as the SPICE Toolkit, along with standards, documentation and software support. The SPICE Toolkit and documentation can be found at: https://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/naif/ The SPICE Toolkit was freely offered to the worldwide space science and space mission engineering communities at the time this data set was released. The few rules governing its use are posted on the Rules page of the NAIF website: https://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/naif/rules.html SPICE is used on a number of space missions, such as ESAs Mars Express, SMART1, Venus Express, ExoMars2016, BepiColombo, Solar Orbiter and Rosetta missions, and all of NASAs solar system exploration missions. The SPICE system has been produced and is maintained by Caltechs Jet truncated!, Please se [truncated!, Please see actual data for full text]

Calculated at IRAP from SPICE kernels

3DView is a science tool that offers immediate 3D visualization of spacecraft position and attitude, planetary ephemerides, as well as scientific data representation (observations and models). A large number of mission trajectories are included (via Spice Kernels) : Cluster, Themis, Solar Orbiter, Juice, Juno, Maven, Mars Express, Venus Express, ... 3DView can access observational database (AMDA, CDAWeb, CLweb, ...) as well as simulation and model databases (from FMI, LATMOS, SINP, ...)