The Spacecraft

SOHO is made up of two modules. The Service Module forms the lower portion of the spacecraft and provides power, thermal control, pointing and telecommunications for the whole spacecraft and support for the solar panels. The Payload Module sits above it and houses all the scientific instruments.

Click here for a view of the SOHO Engineering Model at Matra Marconi Space, in Toulouse, France.

Click here for an MPEG animation showing a rotating SOHO spacecraft, displaying the location of the instruments and external subsystems.

Click here for an MPEG animation showing the deployment of SOHO's solar panels.

SOHO KEY PARAMETERS

DIMENSIONS

  breadth and width ............... 3.65 x 3.65 m
  solar array deployed .................... 9.5 m

MASS
  total at launch ....................... 1850 kg
  payload ................................ 610 kg

TELEMETRY
  during real-time operation ............ 200Kbits/s
  during on-board storage mode ..........  40Kbits/s

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