Gilbert Sedbon/TOULOUSE
MATRA MARCONI SPACE (MMS) is completing final integration and tests of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) in Toulouse, before shipment to Cape Canaveral, Florida, for its launch on an Atlas 2AS booster in October.
The 1,850kg SOHO will be placed in solar orbit, 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth, to "enhance the understanding of the structure of the solar atmosphere; the dynamics of phenomena such as solar flares, prominences and coronal holes; and the characteristics of the solar wind", says Michel Le Moine, MMS programme chief.
The SOHO carries eight European and three NASA instruments in the 640kg payload, integrated at MMS Portsmouth, UK. The spacecraft will be operated in conjunction with four Daimler-Benz Aerospace-built Cluster satellites, which are to be launched on the first Ariane 5 booster - probably in early 1996 - as part of ESA's Horizon 2000 science programme and the International Solar Terrestrial Science programme.
Source: Flight International
