Daring Sun Mission To Study 'Solar Wind'

Scientists are to launch a spacecraft that will fly closer to the Sun than ever before.

The Solar Orbiter will launch in 2017 and will pass within 26 million miles of the Sun, close enough to collect samples of particles shortly after they have been propelled off the solar surface.

The European Space Agency (ESA) says the probe will have to endure sunlight 13 times more intense than that seen on Earth.

Temperatures reaching 500C and extreme radioactivity will be a massive test for the onboard equipment.

The ESA hopes the mission will provide an insight to how the Sun generates the stream of high-energy particles, called the solar wind, that bathe the Earth and other planets.

The winds cause aurora, the extraordinary light displays in the upper atmosphere. But solar flares, ejecting huge plumes of particles, can knock out electrical systems on Earth.

The Solar Orbiter will be launched from Cape Canaveral and will take three years to reach the Sun.

The ESA will also launch a space telescope in 2019 to explore the dark side of the Universe. Euclid will make observations up to 10 billion light years away.

Scientists will use the telescope to study "dark energy", the hypothetical force believed to be driving the ever-accelerating expansion of the Universe.

The ESA's director of science and robotic exploration, Alvaro Gimenez, said: "Euclid will shed light on the nature of one of the most fundamental forces of the Universe.

"Solar Orbiter will help scientists to understand processes that affect the Earth's citizens by disrupting, for example, radio communication and power transmission."