THE EUROPEAN Space Agency's 1,850kg Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), built by Matra Marconi Space, was launched successfully on 2 December by a Lockheed Martin Atlas 2AS booster from Cape Canaveral, Florida. From its vantage point in solar orbit 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth, called the Lagrangian Point, where the gravitational pull of the Earth and the Sun are equal, the SOHO's 12 instruments will continuously probe the Sun. The data should improve the knowledge of the Sun's interior and the corona as well as the acceleration and propagation of the solar wind. The SOHO will work in conjunction with four Cluster satellites, scheduled for launch on the first Ariane 5 in April 1996 (Flight International, 5-11 July).
Source: Flight International
