Here comes the Sun ... Nasa sends spacecraft on its hottest mission
NASA will fly a spacecraft into the Sun’s outer layer in an attempt to unlock the secrets of solar storms that play havoc with satellites and power supplies, the agency has announced.
The unmanned probe will travel to within four million miles of the Sun’s surface, and will have to withstand temperatures of almost 1,400C (2,550F).
Set to launch next year, the Parker Solar Probe – named for astrophysicist Eugene Parker, who postulated a highspeed solar wind in 1958 – promises to “revolutionise” mankind’s understanding of our home star and the origins of physics, scientists said last night, as well as helping protect equipment from solar radiation.
The previous closest mission was Helios 2 in 1976, which only approached to 27 million miles.
The craft will use the gravity of Venus to slow to a “controlled” 500,000 miles per hour for its flights into the Sun. It will make 24 orbits during its seven-year mission.
Nasa is relying on a 4.5-inch thick heat shield to protect the probe’s suite of instruments from the brutal heat.
Once inside the corona
– the outer layer of the
Sun which extends millions of miles into space – sensory equipment will attempt to “taste” and
“smell” electronic particles while they are still moving slowly enough to be measured. The craft will also carry telescopes with which scientists hope to gain unprecedented close-up images of the Sun. The Astronomer Royal, Martin Rees, said: “It will be a great technological achievement to gather data so close to the Sun and to beam it back without the antenna melting.
“In-situ measurements made in this ultra-hostile environment will tell us things about ultra-hot gas and magnetic fields that we can’t learn from terrestrial experiments.”
A network of satellites is currently deployed to observe the surface of the Sun. Despite this, scientists have a poor understanding of how radiation builds up in the star’s outer atmosphere and then accelerates towards Earth. Radioactive storms are able to knock out satellites, disrupting services such as communications and GPS, and in some cases interfering with electricity supplies. Last night astronomers said a more detailed picture of how solar waves reach Earth would enable operators to predict radiation interference and protect vital equipment.
A better understanding of “space weather” is also considered crucial for protecting astronauts and their equipment for any trips to the Moon or Mars. A Nasa spokesman said: “The spacecraft will explore the Sun’s outer atmosphere and make critical observations that will answer decades-old questions about the physics of how stars work.” The new mission is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral in either July or August next year and will make its first flight into the Sun in November. Nicola Fox, one of the mission project scientists, said: “We have really come as far as we can with looking at things and it’s time to pay it a visit.
“It’s time to touch the Sun.”
Flying too close to the Sun has never been considered a good idea. The Ancient Greeks mythologised such hubristic behaviour in the figure of Icarus, whose wax wings melted as he soared higher and higher before crashing into the sea. An equally spectacular fate may be in store for the first mission to the Sun announced by Nasa to probe the outer atmosphere in order to better understand the star on which all life depends. The spacecraft will be launched next summer; and although its orbit will still be four million miles from the Sun’s surface, the craft will need to withstand temperatures of 1,377 degrees Celsius. Humans have always understood their dependence on the Sun and many cultures have worshipped it. JMW Turner’s final words were reputedly “The Sun is God”. Now we are going to touch its face.