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The Sun, a perfect sphere of hot plasma in the center of our solar system, is responsible for the existence of life on Earth. Yet our star is little understood because of the unimaginable extremes of radiation and heat it emits. But NASA will now shed light on this star after swinging its Parker solar probe to the Sun at 213,200 mph.
NASA's Parker Solar Probe solar collector, the size of a small family car, is already the artificial object closest to the Sun: it is now only 24 million kilometers from its inflamed surface.
The NASA spacecraft is about to start its second of 24 solar encounters at 11:40 pm CST (6:40 pm EDT) tonight.
And his latest mission will expose the Parker probe to the extremes of cosmic radiation – 500 times more intense than Earth – in addition to a listening temperature of 1,300 ° C (2,400 ° F).
According to NASA estimates, it will travel at 343,000 km / h (213,200 mph), fast enough to travel the world 100 times in an hour.
The first solar encounter took place last year and the spacecraft is expected to gradually approach the Sun until its last passage in 2024, 3.8 million miles from the star's surface.
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The NASA probe was built to protect its precise instruments from ferocious radiation and to deviate sufficiently from the heat of the sun.
NASA must maintain an internal temperature of 29 ° C (84 ° F) and take vital measurements of the crown – the aura of the plasma surrounding the Sun – to better understand our nearest star.
Among the wealth of data, scientists expect to receive six hope to reveal why the crown is 300 times hotter than the surface of the sun – a long-standing mystery among space scientists.
And another unanswered question is how the Sun can produce such violent material plumes, called solar flares or coronal mass ejections.
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These ions – charged particles – travel at extraordinary speeds, up to half the speed of light, before flooding all objects in the solar system and soaking them in deadly radiation.
The Earth is protected by them by the thick atmosphere of our planet and by its powerful magnetic field and, for the most part, it is only manifested by auroras at the north and south poles.
However, more powerful cosmic events can have a negative impact on terrestrial electronics, with GPS and associated services known to go offline.
Nour Raouafi, Parker Solar Probe project scientist, said: "Parker Solar Probe provides us with the essential measurements to understand the solar phenomena that have intrigued us for decades.
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"To close the link, local sampling of the solar corona and the young solar wind is needed, and Parker Solar Probe is doing just that."
A mission in the depths of the sun required materials capable of withstanding unparalleled conditions.
To respond to astrophysical challenges, NASA had to create new materials with remarkable thermal properties.
A 4.5 inch (11.5 cm) thick carbon composite shell has been developed and is attached to the probe, thus providing the essential of its protection.
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