Why Can't We Just Go Straight Up Out of the Solar System?

By Insane Curiosity

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There is one direction almost nothing we have ever launched has gone: straight up, perpendicular to the plane the planets orbit in. Not because there is nothing there. Because it costs more energy than flying past Pluto. This one we look at why the solar system is flat in the first place, what is actually above and below that disc, and why the only route up runs through the Sun rather than away from it. This is the sequel to our video on What's directly above and below the Sun? 👉 https://youtu.be/qbCCSDBRAlE Ulysses launched in 1990 and is still the only probe ever built specifically to leave the ecliptic plane. To do it, it had to fly out to Jupiter first and use the planet's gravity to throw itself sideways out of the disc. It carried no camera. In February 2025 Solar Orbiter tilted out of the plane and finally sent back images of the Sun's poles, a view no spacecraft had ever recorded. And there is still one photograph nobody has taken. 0:00 The Direction Harder Than Pluto 0

Tags: insane curiosity, space, science, astronomy, above the sun, below the sun, ecliptic plane, solar system plane, why is the solar system flat, Ulysses probe, Ulysses spacecraft, Solar Orbiter, Sun poles, Sun north pole, above the solar system, leaving the solar system, orbital mechanics, delta v, gravity assist, interstellar space