British company to build European Space Agency satellite

Fifty years to the day since Britain launched its first satellite, Ariel-1, British company, Astrium UK in Stevenage, have signed a deal to build the European Space Agency’s latest satellite. The Solar Orbiter (SolO) will be designed to ‘travel closer to the Sun than any other satellite to date’ according to an article on the BBC’s science website. The mission is designed to find out how the Sun affects the environment and the atmosphere, particularly solar winds and ‘space weather’ according to solar physicists working on the project. The deal is worth ₤245M and will also involve groups from the UK Space Agency and NASA. Head of science at Astrium UK, Dr Ralph Cordey, explains some of the challenges facing the science and engineering teams in an accompanying video. For full details of Britain’s latest space science initiative read the article here   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17743190