The Solar Orbiter is waiting for one of the most risky overflights of the Earth in the entire mission

On November 27, one year and eight months after traveling through the inner solar system, the Solar Orbiter probe

will approach Earth to adjust its orbit. After that, he will make six more flybys of Venus. 

It is assumed that during the upcoming flybyThe Earth probe will pass only 460 km from the planet's surface and about 30 km from the trajectory of the International Space Station. It will fly twice through the geostationary ring at a distance of 36,000 km from the Earth's surface and even travel in low Earth orbit below 2,000 km. The problem is that these two regions have a huge amount of space debris.

Despite the fact that in the European spaceagency (ESA) called the Earth flyby risky, experts note that the likelihood of a Solar Orbiter colliding with debris is small. Planetary observation missions spend all of theirs in low-earth orbit - the most polluted area. Although they perform special collision avoidance maneuvers several times a year, the Solar Orbiter, unlike satellites, will only spend a few minutes here, not years. However, scientists are prepared for the fact that the probe during the upcoming flight over the Earth may still collide with some kind of cosmic debris. On November 27, the Solar Orbiter will have one of the most risky overflights of the Earth in the entire mission.

Let us remind you that the Solar Orbiter is an automatic spacecraft for studying the Sun, developed by ESA with the participation of NASA. The first medium-class mission of the Cosmic Vision program.

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