Solar Orbiter: Exploring the Sun-heliosphere connection

Abstract

The heliosphere represents a uniquely accessible domain of space, where fundamental physical processes common to solar, astrophysical and laboratory plasmas can be studied under conditions impossible to reproduce on Earth and unfeasible to observe from astronomical distances. Solar Orbiter, the first mission of ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 programme, will address the central question of heliophysics: How does the Sun create and control the heliosphere? In this paper, we present the scientific goals of the mission and provide an overview of the mission implementation.

52 pages, 21 figures, 125 references; accepted for publication in Solar Physics

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Cited by in corpus (146)

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• The Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager on Solar Orbiter
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• The Magnetic Field in the Solar Atmosphere
• JHelioviewer - Time-dependent 3D visualisation of solar and heliospheric data
• Connecting speeds, directions and arrival times of 22 coronal mass ejections from the Sun to 1 AU
• Origins of the Ambient Solar Wind: Implications for Space Weather
• Investigating Mercury's Environment with the Two-Spacecraft BepiColombo Mission
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• The statistical properties of solar wind temperature parameters near 1 AU
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• A comparison of Alpha Particle and Proton Beam Differential flow in Collisionally Young Solar Wind
• The Role of Turbulence in Coronal Heating and Solar Wind Expansion
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• A zone of preferential ion heating extends tens of solar radii from Sun
• Waves in the lower solar atmosphere: the dawn of next-generation solar telescopes
• A Majority of Solar Wind Intervals Support Ion-Driven Instabilities
• Radial evolution of the solar wind in pure high-speed streams: HELIOS revised observations
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• Diagnosing solar wind origins using in-situ measurements in the inner heliosphere
• The First Ionization Potential Effect from the Ponderomotive Force: On the Polarization and Coronal Origin of the Alfven Waves
• Superflares and Variability in Solar-Type Stars with $TESS$ in the Southern Hemisphere
• Prediction of the in situ coronal mass ejection rate for solar cycle 25: Implications for Parker Solar Probe in situ observations
• In situ multi-spacecraft and remote imaging observations of the first CME detected by Solar Orbiter and BepiColombo
• A Prospectus on Kinetic Heliophysics
• Laboratory Space Physics: Investigating the Physics of Space Plasmas in the Laboratory
• Coronal Electron Temperature inferred from the Strahl Electrons in the Inner Heliosphere: Parker Solar Probe and Helios observations
• On the statistical properties of turbulent energy transfer rate in the inner Heliosphere
• Quasiperiodic Energy Release and Jets at the Base of Solar Coronal Plumes
• Instrumentation for solar spectropolarimetry: state of the art and prospects
• Generation solar-like differential rotation
• Solar-wind predictions for the Parker Solar Probe orbit
• The Great Space Weather Event during February 1872 Recorded in East Asia
• The Effect of Magnetic Variability on Stellar Angular Momentum Loss I: The Solar Wind Torque During Sunspot Cycles 23 & 24
• Statistical study of network jets observed in the solar transition region: A comparison between coronal holes and quiet sun regions
• Helium Variation Across Two Solar Cycles Reveals A Speed-Dependent Phase Lag
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• A new inner heliosphere proton parameter data set from the Helios mission
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• Solar Coronal Magnetic Field Extrapolation from Synchronic Data with AI-generated Farside
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• The Evolution of Inverted Magnetic Fields Through the Inner Heliosphere
• Study of EUV Emission and Properties of a Coronal Streamer from PROBA2/SWAP, Hinode/EIS and Mauna Loa Mk4 Observations
• Snakes on a Spaceship - An Overview of Python in Heliophysics
• Large-scale Structure and Turbulence Transport in the Inner Solar Wind -- Comparison of Parker Solar Probe's First Five Orbits with a Global 3D Reynolds-averaged MHD Model
• Analysis of coronal mass ejection flux rope signatures using 3DCORE and approximate Bayesian Computation
• Correlation of ICME Magnetic Fields at Radially Aligned Spacecraft
• New Evidence on the Origin of Solar Wind Microstreams/Switchbacks
• Observations of Energetic-Particle Population Enhancements along Intermittent Structures near the Sun from Parker Solar Probe
• Multi-spacecraft observations of the structure of the sheath of an interplanetary coronal mass ejection and related energetic ion enhancement
• A count-based imaging model for the Spectrometer/Telescope for Imaging X-rays (STIX) in Solar Orbiter
• IRIS observations of magnetic interactions in the solar atmosphere between pre-existing and emerging magnetic fields. II. UV emission properties
• Concept of the Solar Ring Mission: Overview
• A Self-consistent Simulation of Proton Acceleration and Transport Near a High-speed Solar Wind Stream
• Helioseismology with Solar Orbiter
• Connecting 3D evolution of Coronal Mass Ejections to their Source Regions
• A Coronal Mass Ejection and Magnetic Ejecta Observed In Situ by STEREO-A and Wind at 55${}^{\circ }$ Angular Separation
• Direct Detection of Solar Angular Momentum Loss with the Wind Spacecraft
• Energy Supply for Heating the Slow Solar Wind Observed by Parker Solar Probe between 0.17 and 0.7 au
• Directly comparing coronal and solar wind elemental fractionation
• Properties of the Sheath Regions of Coronal Mass Ejections with or without Shocks from STEREO in situ Observations near 1 AU
• Observational Evidence of a Flux Rope within a Sunspot Umbra
• Statistical Analysis of Solar Events Associated with Storm Sudden Commencements over One Year of Solar Maximum during Cycle 23: Propagation from the Sun to the Earth and Effects
• Radial Evolution of the April 2020 Stealth Coronal Mass Ejection between 0.8 and 1 AU -- A Comparison of Forbush Decreases at Solar Orbiter and Earth
• Diagnostic capabilities of spectropolarimetric observations for understanding solar phenomena I. Zeeman-sensitive photospheric lines
• Hot prominence detected in the core of a Coronal Mass Ejection: III. Plasma filling factor from UVCS Lyman-$\alpha$ and Lyman-$\beta$ observations
• Towards a Quantitative Comparison of Magnetic Field Extrapolations and Observed Coronal Loops
• Collisionless heat flux regulation via electron firehose instability in presence of a core and suprathermal population in the expanding solar wind
• Accuracy analysis of the on-board data reduction pipeline for the Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager on the Solar Orbiter mission
• Magnetic fields inferred by Solar Orbiter: A comparison between SO/PHI-HRT and SDO/HMI
• Where are the solar magnetic poles?
• Categorization of Coronal Mass Ejection Driven Sheath Regions: Characteristics of STEREO Events
• Turbulent energization of electron power law tails during magnetic reconnection
• Characteristics and applications of interplanetary coronal mass ejection composition
• Structured type III radio bursts observed in interplanetary space
• Kink Oscillation of a Flux Rope During a Failed Solar Eruption
• Multi-spacecraft Observations of the Coronal and Interplanetary Evolution of a Solar Eruption Associated with Two Active Regions
• Properties of the Umbral Filament Observed in Active Region NOAA 12529
• SCSS-Net: Solar Corona Structures Segmentation by Deep Learning
• The Solar Wind Angular Momentum Flux as Observed by Parker Solar Probe
• Spectropolarimetric Fluctuations in a Sunspot Chromosphere
• Elemental composition in quiescent prominences
• An Insight into the Coupling of CME Kinematics in Inner and Outer Corona and the Imprint of Source Regions
• Small-scale flux ropes in ICME sheaths
• A comparison of the active region upflow and core properties using simultaneous spectroscopic observations from IRIS and Hinode
• 3D electron density distributions in the solar corona during solar minima: assessment for more realistic solar wind modeling
• Imaging and Spectral Observations of a Type-II Radio Burst Revealing the Section of the CME-Driven Shock that Accelerates Electrons
• Measuring X-ray anisotropy in solar flares. Prospective stereoscopic capabilities of STIX and MiSolFA
• Statistics of Solar Wind Electron Breakpoint Energies Using Machine Learning Techniques
• Cross Helicity and the Helium Abundance as an in situ Metric of Solar Wind Acceleration
• The Contribution of Alpha Particles to the Solar Wind Angular Momentum Flux in the Inner Heliosphere
• An elliptic expansion of the potential field source surface model
• Predicting the Time-of-Arrival of Coronal Mass Ejections at Earth From Heliospheric Imaging Observations
• On the Variation of Volumetric Evolution of CMEs from Inner to Outer Corona
• Evolution of CME Properties in the Inner Heliosphere: Prediction for Solar Orbiter and Parker Solar Probe
• LOFAR observations of radio burst source sizes and scattering in the solar corona
• Multi-spacecraft Study of the Solar Wind at Solar Minimum: Dependence on Latitude and Transient Outflows
• Verification of the helioseismic Fourier-Legendre analysis for meridional flow measurements
• Penumbral decay observed in active region NOAA 12585
• Automated Detection of Accelerating Solar Eruptions using Parabolic Hough Transform
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• Quantifying the diffusion of suprathermal electrons by whistler waves between 0.2 and 1 AU with Solar Orbiter and Parker Solar Probe
• The pivot energy of Solar Energetic Particles Affecting the Martian surface radiation environment
• Comprehensive Characterization of Solar Eruptions With Remote and In-Situ Observations, and Modeling: The Major Solar Events on 4 November 2015
• On the Magnetic Nature of an Exploding Granule as Revealed by Sunrise/IMaX
• Comparing extrapolations of the coronal magnetic field structure at 2.5 solar radii with multi-viewpoint coronagraphic observations
• SPICE Connection Mosaics to link the Sun's surface and the heliosphere
• Three-dimensional Reconstruction of Coronal Mass Ejections by CORAR Technique through Different Stereoscopic Angle of STEREO Twin Spacecraft
• An investigation of flare emissions at multiple wavelengths
• A new class of discontinuous solar wind solutions
• A Two-dimensional Numerical Study of Ion-Acoustic Turbulence
• Connecting the Wilson depression to the magnetic field of sunspots
• Effects of the chromospheric Lyα line profile shape on the determination of the solar wind HI outflow velocity using the Doppler dimming technique
• Evolution of coronal mass ejections with and without sheaths from the inner to the outer heliosphere -- statistical investigation for 1975-2022
• Simultaneous High Dynamic Range Algorithm, Testing, and Instrument Simulation
• Performance of solar far-side active regions neural detection
• Call and Response: A Time-Resolved Study of Chromospheric Evaporation in a Large Solar Flare
• Observation of solar radio burst events from Mars orbit with the Shallow Radar instrument
• Disparity among low first ionization potential elements
• The Micro Solar Flare Apparutus (MiSolFA) Instrument Concept
• Characterizing the Impact of Alfvén Wave Forcing in Interplanetary Space on the Distribution of near-Earth Solar Wind Speeds
• Penumbral brightening events observed in AR NOAA 12546
• Constraints on the variable nature of the slow solar wind with the Wide-Field Imager on board the Parker Solar Probe
• Ghost Images in Helioseismic Holography? Toy Models in a Uniform Medium
• The depth and the vertical extent of the energy deposition layer in a medium-class solar flare
• Ensemble Modeling of the Solar Wind Flow with Boundary Conditions Governed by Synchronic Photospheric Magnetograms. I. Multi-point Validation in the Inner Heliosphere
• Analysis of 42 years of Cosmic Ray Measurements by the Neutron Monitor at Lomnický stít Observatory
• Quasi-parallel anti-sunward propagating whistler waves associated to the electron-deficit in the near-Sun solar wind: Particle-in-Cell simulation
• Development of a method for determining the search window for solar flare neutrinos
• Predictions for Dusty Mass Loss from Asteroids during Close Encounters with Solar Probe Plus
• On the formation of Lyman $\beta$ and the O I 1027 and 1028 Å spectral lines
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• Solar Physics at the Einstein Tower
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• Role of ion acoustic instability in magnetic reconnection
• GOES class estimation for behind-the-limb solar flares using MESSENGER SAX