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NASA is preparing to send a probe closer to the Sun than any other spacecraft, having withstood the nasty heat by zooming through the solar corona to study this outermost part of the stellar atmosphere that gives birth to the solar wind
The Parker Solar Probe, a robotic spacecraft the size of a small car, is expected to be launched from Cape Canaveral Florida, August 6 being the launch date of the seven-year mission planned. It is expected to fly within the Sun's crown within 3.8 million miles (6.1 million km) of the solar surface, seven times closer than any other spacecraft
"Send a probe where you've never been. The sending in such brutal conditions is very ambitious, "said Nicola Fox, a scientist at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Lab, at a press conference Friday
. 2, which in 1976 came within 27 million miles (43 million km) .In comparison, the average distance from the Sun to the Earth is 150 million kilometers.
The crown gives birth to the solar wind , a continuous stream of charged particles that permeates the solar system Unpredictable solar winds cause disturbances in the magnetic field of our planet and can wreak havoc with Earth-based communication technology.Nasa hopes the results will allow scientists to predicting changes in the Earth's space environment.
"It is fundamental for us to be able to predict this spatial time, just as we predict the time. ps here on Earth. scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center at NASA Maryland. "In the most extreme cases of these weather phenomena, it can affect our electrical networks on Earth."
The $ 1.5 billion project is the first major mission of NASA's Living With a Star program.
The spacecraft should use seven Venus flyovers for nearly seven years to gradually reduce its orbit around the Sun, using instruments designed to image the solar wind and study electric and magnetic fields, coronal plasma and energetic particles . NASA's goal is to collect data on the inner workings of the highly magnetized crown.
The probe, named after the American astrophysicist Eugene Newman Parker, will have to survive difficult heat and radiation conditions. It has been equipped with a heat shield designed to maintain its instruments at an acceptable temperature of 85 degrees Fahrenheit (29 degrees Celsius), even when the spacecraft is facing temperatures reaching nearly 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit as it passes. the closest.
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Last updated: Monday, 23 July 2018 KSA 00:07 – GMT 21:07
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