The NASA space probe launched on a pioneering mission to our solar system’s star a week ago. Solar Orbiter will visit the Sun’s poles in an attempt to record an intriguing mysterious region of its surface.
A magnetometer is one of the cutting-edge instruments that will allow NASA to accomplish this.
And the UK Space Agency revealed this tech has now beamed back its first data to Earth.
Professor Tim Horbury, principal investigator for the magnetometer instrument, said: “We measure magnetic fields thousands of times smaller than those we are familiar with on Earth.
“Even currents in electrical wires make magnetic fields far larger than what we need to measure.
READ MORE: Asteroid warning: Space rocks once thought harmless can still strike
The instruments will then have to be calibrated, with the scientific data being collected from mid-May.
It will take the Solar Orbiter about two years to reach the Sun, which scientists call the “cruising phase”.
Günther Hasinger, ESA director of Science, said in a statement: “As humans, we have always been familiar with the importance of the Sun to life on Earth, observing it and investigating how it works in detail, but we have also long known it has the potential to disrupt everyday life should we be in the firing line of a powerful solar storm.
“By the end of our Solar Orbiter mission, we will know more about the hidden force responsible