Britain to build spacecraft to study sun

A British company will take a lead role in building a spacecraft that will travel closer to the sun than any space probe has ever done, officials say. The European Space Agency signed a contract with Astrium UK to build the SolO, or Solar Orbiter, set to launch in 2017 to take pictures and measurements from inside the orbit of Mercury, the BBC reported Friday. Solar Orbiter, in its mission to study the sun's behavior and its influence on the solar system, will fly as close as 26 million miles from the sun, requiring the probe to be equipped with a robust shield. "Heat will be a huge problem," Ralph Cordey of Astrium UK said. "If it were not protected, the face of the spacecraft would get as hot as 500 degrees (centigrade; 932 degrees Fahrenheit) -- which would be disastrous." Solar Orbiter is a joint venture between the ESA and NASA, which will supply some instruments and sensors and also provide the launch rocket to send SolO toward the sun.