By Elton Gomes
The world’s first mission to study the sun – NASA’s Parker Solar Probe – is in its final stage of preparations and is scheduled to launch on July 31.
Currently undergoing testing, the Parker Solar Probe is will be launched from the American space station’s Launch Complex 37 situated at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre, Florida. The United States Air Force transported the spacecraft to Florida where testing will continue. Parker Solar Probe will orbit around the corona, which is the outermost part of the sun’s atmosphere.
NASA’s mission aims to reveal the fundamental science behind the sun’s wind and the constant outflow of materials from the sun that affects space weather near Earth.
The mission
NASA has been wanting to study the sun since 1958, but were unable to do so due to technological impediments. The Parker Solar Probe will give scientists and space enthusiasts alike a glimpse of what the sun might be like.
Thomas Zurbuchen, the associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA said in a press release,”this mission will answer questions scientists have sought to uncover for more than six decades.
Roughly the size of a small car, the spacecraft will travel to about four million miles from the sun’s surface. The spacecraft is expected to orbit the sun a total of 24 times, and it will get closer to the sun after each orbit.
The spacecraft will have to bear temperatures up to 2,500 Fahrenheit and will be protected by a 4.5-inch thick carbon-composite shield. This shield will protect the four instrument suites by keeping them at room temperature and also allow them to image the solar wind and study magnetic fields, plasma, and energetic particles.
The Parker Solar Probe being lowered into a thermal vacuum chamber to simulate the harsh conditions the probe will have to face. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/Ed WhitmanA critical element of the spacecraft is the heat shield, or the thermal protection system (TPS). The TPS will be installed prior to the spacecraft being fuelled and will allow the probe to sustain itself even when facing the extreme temperatures of the sun’s corona.
NASA states that the spacecraft will be travelling at a speed of approximately 4,30,000 miles per hour, enough to travel from Washington D.C. to Tokyo in under a minute.
Preparing to travel as close as 7 million kilometres from the sun certainly is not an easy task. Other than the sun’s extreme temperature, the spacecraft will have to combat supersonic particles and powerful radiation.
The spacecraft was designed and built in the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab. The probe will fly around Venus seven times to enter into orbit around the sun in December 2024.
A representation of the Parker Sun Probe. Credit: Twitter/@ParkerSunProbeIf you’ve ever wanted to see your name close to the sun, the next few lines might be paramount to you. NASA’s public initiative is allowing users to submit their names that will then be placed on a microchip aboard the Parker Solar Probe. Last day for submissions is April 27.
The Parker Solar Probe is named after the University of Chicago Professor Emeritus Eugene N. Parker and is the first NASA mission to be named after a living person.Professor Parker’s exceptional insights have been a guiding force in the discipline of solar physics.