Join us online for our solar event talk series. In this talk, Martin Caldwell will discuss the Solar Orbiter mission, which flies close to the Sun, learning about our closest star for viewers aged 12+.

The Solar Orbiter is the most complex scientific laboratory ever sent to our Sun and is taking images of the Sun from closer than any spacecraft before. It is the first spacecraft to view the Sun’s polar regions. Martin will focus specifically on one of the on-board optical instruments ‘SPICE’, which was developed and built at RAL Space.

Martin will cover the technology challenges for travelling so close to the Sun, and how we make sure that the sensitive instruments can survive and operate in intense heat for a decade or more.

This online talk is part of a series of online events in the run-up to the eclipse, so you can find out more about how we study the sun at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory– and how you can join in the fun.

Please follow the link below to register.

Image information: Solar Orbiter’s view of the Sun’s south pole.​ Credit: ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/EUI Team, D. Berghmans (ROB)