  Solar Orbiter is the first space mission observing the solar plasma both in
situ and remotely, from a close distance, in and out of the ecliptic. The
ultimate goal is to understand how the Sun produces and controls the
heliosphere, filling the Solar System and driving the planetary environments.
With six remote-sensing and four in-situ instrument suites, the coordination
and planning of the operations are essential to address the following four
top-level science questions: (1) What drives the solar wind and where does the
coronal magnetic field originate? (2) How do solar transients drive
heliospheric variability? (3) How do solar eruptions produce energetic particle
radiation that fills the heliosphere? (4) How does the solar dynamo work and
drive connections between the Sun and the heliosphere? Maximising the mission's
science return requires considering the characteristics of each orbit,
including the relative position of the spacecraft to Earth (affecting downlink
rates), trajectory events (such as gravitational assist manoeuvres), and the
phase of the solar activity cycle. Furthermore, since each orbit's science
telemetry will be downloaded over the course of the following orbit, science
operations must be planned at mission level, rather than at the level of
individual orbits. It is important to explore the way in which those science
questions are translated into an actual plan of observations that fits into the
mission, thus ensuring that no opportunities are missed. First, the overarching
goals are broken down into specific, answerable questions along with the
required observations and the so-called Science Activity Plan (SAP) is
developed to achieve this. The SAP groups objectives that require similar
observations into Solar Orbiter Observing Plans (SOOPs), resulting in a
strategic, top-level view of the optimal opportunities for science observations
during the mission lifetime.
