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NASA's Parker Solar Probe has been engineered to withstand extreme heat and sun temperatures. The spacecraft is expected to enter orbit in the summer of 2018 and provide unprecedented details on the sun's crown. ( Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory )
The NASA Parker Solar Probe is ready to orbit the sun this summer, making it the first close-up sighting from a star
The spacecraft the size of a car will position itself at about 3.8 million miles from the sun's surface in an area called the sun's crown. This will allow him to take unprecedented detail on the solar winds that carry very charged particles up to Neptune
. At this point, it will also be subjected to intense heat and temperature. Temperatures in the crown range from 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit to over a million degrees in some areas.
It has long been believed that nothing can ever fly so close to the sun and not disintegrate in intense heat and radiation. However, Parker Solar Probe is equipped with basic and advanced technologies to prevent it from melting in the sun.
Heat Vs. Temperature
It is important to understand that heat is different from temperature. Temperature measures the speed at which particles move, while heat is an indication of the amount of energy transferred by the particles.
High temperatures do not always mean a high energy transfer. Particles can travel at extremely high speeds, but there may be too few to transfer energy as heat to another body. In space, there are very few particles that can warm up a spaceship.
For an example closer to Earth, it is much easier to get your hands in a heated oven than in a saucepan of boiling water. Indeed, there are many less particles that move at high speed in the oven than in the pot of water.
The sun's crown can measure millions of degrees of temperature, but it does not contain enough particles to heat the probe. at this level. Outside the heat shield, the temperature will be only 2500 degrees Fahrenheit
Heat Shield
To further reduce heat, the Parker solar sensor is covered with a layer of composite foam of 4 , 5 inches inserted between carbon plates. On the side exposed to the sun, the shield is painted in layers of white ceramic paint in order to project the maximum of sunlight.
The heat shield can hold up to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit and keep the temperature inside the probe up to a manageable temperature of 80 degrees Fahrenheit. However, not all instruments are protected by the heat shield. A cup of Faraday, a tool designed to measure the flow of ions and electrons in solar winds, will come out like a sore thumb from the heat shield
to prevent it from melting into the sun , the cut was made from a molybdenum alloy that can withstand up to 4,260 degrees Fahrenheit. The chips used for the cup were made of tungsten, a metal having the highest melting point known to man at 6192 degrees Fahrenheit
Tried and tested in a laboratory
To make sure As Faraday's mug will withstand the heat of the sun, NASA experts have subjected it to conditions similar to those it would face in orbit.
Scientists used a particle accelerator to bombard the cup with IMAX and radiation projectors to simulate the heat of the sun. They also used the Odello solar oven, which concentrates the sun's heat through 10,000 mirrors.
The result? The Parker Solar Probe Faraday cup was easily able to withstand heat, temperature, light and radiation. In fact, the more the cup was exposed to the elements, the better it was.
"We think the radiation has eliminated any potential contamination," says Justin Kasper, principal investigator for SWEAP instruments at the University of Michigan. "It's cleaned up by itself."
Autonomous Cooling System
NASA equipped the spacecraft with solar panels capable of capturing the sun's energy. As the spacecraft gets closer to the sun, the solar panels retreat to the shade of the heat shield, leaving only a small portion exposed.
The probe is also equipped with a simple cooling system that can easily cool a living room. The system includes a heated tank and two radiators to prevent the coolant from freezing, aluminum fins and pumps to maintain the coolant.
Coolant is made from pressurized demineralized water boiling in excess of 257 degrees Fahrenheit. The balance between the heating and pumping elements keeps the water hot enough to prevent it from freezing and cooling it enough to prevent it from overflowing.
Sensors placed in the shadow of the heat shield were also placed to detect sunlight. If the sensors detect the light, they warn the main computer, which then repositions the probe to keep it away from the light
30 Gadgets And Tech Gifts for Father's Day 2018 What dad will think to be rad [19659026] 19659027] © 2018 Tech Times, All Rights Reserved. Do not reproduce without permission
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