Following this successful launch the probe has now made its first close approach to our star, with mission control preparing to test out the onboard instruments by gathering close-up images of the Sun and its surroundings.

NASA's Parker Solar Probe that launched in 2018 flies closer to the Sun than the Solar Orbiter, but the purpose of its mission is quite different. Whereas it will travel through the Sun's atmosphere to study the origins of high-energy solar particles and how solar winds pick up speed, the Solar Orbiter will probe our star's mysteries by gaining unprecedented perspectives on its polar regions.