NASA Launching Spacecraft Into the Sun
We know a lot about the sun, but there's a lot NASA doesn't know and the Space Agency is aiming to fill in some of the gaps with a multi-million dollar mission that will see a probe launched into the star.
NASA has announced plans to travel to the sun in 2018. The Agency said it will launch an unmanned spacecraft called Solar Probe Plus into the sun's hot atmosphere to answer questions that have plagued scientists for years.
It will take Probe Plus eight weeks to arrive at the sun. According to Discovery, it will then begin the first of 24 orbits using flybys of Venus to gradually shrink the distance between it and the sun. Though Solar Probe Plus will remain four million miles away from the sun, Discovery reports that it's mission will take it eight times closer to the sun then any other spacecraft, and it will be entering the sun's corona, which means it will have to withstand temperatures of up to 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit.
NASA is still deciding what instruments will be included on the spacecraft, but for now, we know that the main purpose of the mission is to find out how the sun's heating mechanism works and determine how it whips up the solar wind.
"We want to know what it is that accelerates the plasma," Andy Dantzler, Solar Probe Plus project manager, told Discovery News. "We know it has to do with magnetic fields, but we don't really know how that comes about."
Wired reports that the UK Space Agency also has plans to send a probe to the sun to carry out similar tasks, and if all goes according to plan, their spacecraft will launch in 2017, a year before the NASA probe.
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Very interesting.
Well, solar power is not going to be an issue there! I hope they find out those things. It's not really useful to us, but it's interesting. Curiosity, not money, should be the drive for a scientific mind!
Very interesting. Makes me wonder what materials they plan on building this craft out of, as temperatures in that vicinity are tremendous.
When I read the headline I was thinking it would arrive at the sun in December of 2012... LOL
jajaja waiting 2018!! I wanna know too...is interesting.-
This is very interesting.
"A Recession! Nonsense! This is NASA, let's throw something that costs a billion dollars into the sun."
"Unmanned Spacecraft" Well damn I hope so, If I heard the opposite than this story would be a hell of a lot more interesting.
By 2018 it it will have a force field driven by solar power to protect the probe.
Yes, the sun is very hot. Is that all you needed to know
When I read the headline I was thinking it would arrive at the sun in December of 2012... LOL
Ah yes, the sun exploding on December 2012 from NASA's spacecraft, what a way to go.
imagine if that spacecraft crash into the sun and then started a chain reaction to explode the sun? OH NO!! i hope that won't be the case. besides do we really have have a metal that won't melt at those extreme temperatures at close to the sun atmosphere? wow. Looks like "The Core" movie is coming to reality
2700 degress.. im going to assume it just has a very high tech cooling system built in, as the electronics inside wouldnt do well., cooling solves all...
And crash into the sun?.., um.. it wont even get within 100miles of the sun before being completly destroyed..
The sun will destroy the probe before it can send back meaningful data, that is unless they send it at night.
The sun will destroy the probe before it can send back meaningful data, that is unless they send it at night.
Oh yeah maybe they should launch it from Alaska in the off season so they'll have close to 6 months of darkness huh....
There will be no night for the probe. The sun is always on. Night is a result of Earth spinning on its axis. Half of Earth is in day while the other half is in night.
Pyroflea, there are many materials that can easily withstand 2600F. That's almost 1500C. Refractory metals such as tantalum, tungsten, molybdenum all have melting points close to 3000C. Ceramics such as alumina are in the 2000C range. Radiation shields can be made from moly as it is also a very good thermal conductor (to send heat to the extreme cold side) and can be made very shiny for low emissivity.
Thermal expansion might be tricky, but it's all doable. I design sample manipulators for vacuum use to operate between 4 and 350 Kelvin, and it all holds together. Sometimes the samples are heated to 1200C. It's just a matter of picking the correct thermal masses and thermal resistances to keep things from cracking or melting. Easy? No. Rocket science? Well sort of I guess, but not overly complicated from a thermal analysis.
This is the kind of stuff that when they test, they'll learn much about and eventually the technology will trickle down to everyday items. Some new materials may be developed or material behaviors discovered by accident - good stuff.
Let's hope the sun won't get mad for us hitting him in the face.
The sun will destroy the probe before it can send back meaningful data, that is unless they send it at night.
Oh really now? Do you have access to the sun's switch? If so, just tell us what turns it on so we can save the trip to the sun.
With that kind of heat, I think the probe will RROD...
Didn't this happen 10 years ago? : )
The sun will destroy the probe before it can send back meaningful data, that is unless they send it at night.
I chuckled, and then read some comments after... I don't cadder was serious
I don't think cadder was serious**
This stuff is really quite interesting, I hope they get lots of data for scientist to oodle over and learn more about the life giving star because the implacations of what they learn could be vast.
After reading this I couldnt belive that something similar to this hasn't been tried before they've been to Mercury have they not? And why so long to launch, I understand R&D n such but thats a good chunk of time.
Godspeed "unamed spacecraft"
That was to see if the Sun was actually hot. This is to see how hot the Sun is.
Would be way cooler if they could drop it into the sun's atmosphere, with HD stereo camera :-) I'd pay twice the IMAX ticket to see that.
Ehhhh...just slap some tantalum-hafnium-carbide on the thing and call it a day.
Fahrenheit... do people still use that?
hahahaa Cadder made me pmsl
wow, how will they get it into the sun?
no, i didn't read the article yet.
Lets spend billions of dollars to confirm the sun is hot and gives off radiation.
MMMmmmm tax payer money.
Cadder...hilarious lol.
Can't believe people responded seriously...
hell no...leave the sun alone...it will bite us in the arse in the long run...this is such a waster of money and resources