NASA’s new mission

The sun’s mysteries are the target of Parker probe

Arocket that took off in the dark from Cape Canaveral, Fla., is on its way to bring new light to our understanding of the sun. How it avoids melting when it gets within 4 million miles of the sun — as opposed to the 93 million miles we are from the sun here on Earth — is a mystery to most of us.

The physicists who designed the Parker Solar Probe have crafted a shield that is super-light while also being super-effective at protecting instruments from the searing heat flowing fromthe sun at 4 million miles away.

NASA and its partners have developed a carbon composite shield that can withstand those 2,500 degrees on one side while instruments operate in 85 degrees on the other.

Earthlings have come to expect the unbelievable from our space program. Technological probes sent to Mars and Jupiter have vastly overperformed. The two Voyager spacecraft have traveled billions of miles to the farthest reaches of the solar system while still sending back photographs. And the Mars Rover Opportunity was planned for a 90-day mission when it landed in 2004 but was still operating this year, though it seems to have been lost in a dust storm.

The probe is named after the scientist, Eugene Parker, who theorized about solar winds in 1958. At 91, he sat in the dark and watched the 22story rocket slowly lift off on its way to the sun. It should start sending data in December, and over seven years, with a planned 24 trips around the sun, is planned to generate data that will help us better understand solar energy, particles and storms Science is bigger than politics. It teaches, and its impact is lasting..