![](\"http:\/\/www.esa.int\/var\/esa\/storage\/images\/esa_multimedia\/images\/2014\/05\/solar_orbiter_sunshield\/14506601-1-eng-GB\/Solar_Orbiter_sunshield_small.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\nMembers of ESA\u2019s Solar Orbiter team watch expectantly as an essential part of the spacecraft is lowered into Europe\u2019s largest vacuum chamber: the multi-layered shield that will protect their probe from the Sun\u2019s remorseless glare. \n<\/p>\n
\nThis engineering model of the sunshield, sandwiched together from multiple layers of titanium and outermost carbon coating<\/a>, was placed in the 15 m-high and 10 m-diameter Large Space Simulator at ESA\u2019s Technical Centre, ESTEC, in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, on 2 May.\n<\/p>\n \nSolar Orbiter<\/a>, due for launch in 2017, will carry a portfolio of instruments for high-resolution imaging of our parent star from as close as 42 million km \u2013 a little more than a quarter of the distance to Earth.\n<\/p>\n \nOperating in direct view of the Sun, the mission must endure 13 times the intensity of terrestrial sunlight and temperatures rising as high as 520\u00b0C.\n<\/p>\n \nThe main body of the spacecraft will therefore be huddled behind a multi-layered 3.1 m by 2.4 m sunshield, with the circular holes for cameras to peep through, many behind protective glass or beryllium.\n<\/p>\n \nThe question is, can the sunshield keep up the insulating performance the Solar Orbiter mission and its sensitive instruments demand?\n<\/p>\n \nAs its crucial test begins, all air will be extracted to produce space-quality vacuum, while the chamber walls are pumped with \u2013190\u00b0C liquid nitrogen to mimic the extreme cold of deep space.\n<\/p>\n \nThen the light from 19 xenon lamps, each consuming 25 kW, will be tightly focused by mirrors into a concentrated beam of artificial sunlight upon the sunshield for a number of days.\n<\/p>\n \nThe roof of the Simulator can be seen in the left-hand background of the image, ready to slide into place to seal the chamber for testing. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \t\t\t\t\t \nMembers of ESA\u2019s Solar Orbiter team watch expectantly as an essential part of the spacecraft is lowered into Europe\u2019s largest vacuum chamber: the multi-layered shield that will protect their probe from the Sun\u2019s remorseless glare. \n<\/p>\n \nThis engineering model of the sunshield, sandwiched together from multiple layers of titanium and outermost carbon coating<\/a>, was placed in the 15 m-high and 10 m-diameter Large Space Simulator at ESA\u2019s Technical Centre, ESTEC, in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, on 2 May.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n