UK Space Agency commits £12m to Sun probe mission

UK teams will build four of the instruments that aim to give us an unprecedented look at the Sun

The UK Space Agency is to provide £11.5m in funding for a probe that will take the closest ever look at the Sun.

The funding will go towards the development of four instruments to be housed on the European Space Agency's (ESA) Solar Orbiter, which aims to provide an unprecedented view of the Sun, flying to within 42 million kilometres of its surface - roughly a quarter of the distance between the Earth and Sun.

"This is a very challenging space mission - by going closer than we've ever been to the Sun, it poses big challenges to the scientists and engineers who are going to design the spacecraft and science instruments.," said John Zarnecki, chair of the UK Space Agency's science advisory committee.

The Solar Orbiter aims to discover how the Sun creates and controls its atmosphere, known as the heliosphere. The on-board instruments will study its surface, magnetic field and analyse the violent surface activity, including coronal mass ejections.

"This is a significant project in the UK. The instruments will provide exciting new data to further our understanding of the nature of stars and of our small corner of the universe," added Chris Castelli, head of space science at the UK Space Agency.

The Solar Orbiter is due to launch in 2017 and will take roughly three years to reach its first destination, which will use Venus's gravity to swing it in to a 168-day orbit pattern around the Sun.