Solar probe can take the heat
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A red-hot voyage to the sun is going to bring us closer to our star than ever.
NASA's Parker Solar Probe will be the first spacecraft to "touch" the sun, hurtling through the sizzling solar atmosphere and coming within 3.8 million miles of the surface.
It's designed to take solar punishment like no other probe, thanks to its revolutionary heat shield that's capable of withstanding 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit.
"The coolest, hottest mission, baby, that's what it is," said Nicola Fox, the project scientist at Johns Hopkins University.
The U.S. got a glimpse of the sun's glowing, spiky crown, or corona, during last August's coast-to-coast total solar eclipse.
"Well, Parker Solar Probe's going to be in there," Fox said.
A technical problem delayed Saturday morning's scheduled launch just one minute, 55 seconds before liftout, keeping the Delta IV rocket on its pad.
Rocket maker United Launch Alliance said it would try again Sunday, provided the helium-pressure issue can be resolved quickly.
Thousands of spectators had gathered to witness the launch, including the University of Chicago astrophysicist for whom the spacecraft is named. Eugene Parker predicted the existence of solar wind 60 years ago. He's now 91 and eager to see the solar probe soar. He plans to stick around at least a few more days.
Parker, roughly the size of a small car, will get nearly seven times closer to the sun than previous spacecraft. To snuggle up to the sun, it will fly past Venus seven times over seven years. Each flyby will provide an orbit-shaping gravity boost, drawing it closer to the sun and straight into the corona — the sun's outermost atmosphere.
The closer, the better for figuring out why the corona is hundreds of times hotter than the sun's surface. Another mystery that scientists hope to solve: What drives the solar wind? That's the steady, supersonic stream of charged particles blasting off the corona and into space in all directions.
"There are missions that are studying the solar wind, but we're going to get to the birthplace," Fox said. A Delta IV Heavy rocket, shown Friday on the launching pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, might lift off with the Parker Solar Probe on Sunday after Saturday’s scheduled launch was scrubbed.
Scientists expect the $1.5 billion mission to shed light not only on our dynamic sun but also on the billions of other yellow dwarf stars — and other types of stars — in the Milky Way and beyond. While granting us life, the sun also has the power to disrupt spacecraft in orbit and communications and electronics on Earth.