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The US Aerospace Agency (NASA) is preparing the launch of an artificial device that will be closest to the Sun . This is the Parker probe, named in honor of Eugene Parker, the astrophysicist who developed supersonic solar wind theory
The spacecraft will be launched from Cape Canaveral, in the state of Florida (United States), of August 6, . This will be the first time that a mission enters the solar corona, an area that reaches temperatures well above the surface of the "king of the sun".
Alex Young, scientific expert at NASA, recalled that they "study the Sun" for decades and now "go" where the action is. " The mission will approach 6 million kilometers from the solar surface at a speed that will reach 200 kilometers per second in a mission in which it will analyze the behavior of the star both at a distance and on the place
Three fundamental questions
The spacecraft carries instruments to study the Sun from a distance or directly The data of these advanced instruments should help scientists answer three fundamental questions about our star
One of them relates to the mystery of the solar wind acceleration.While we largely capture its origins, we know that there is a point , not yet observed, where the solar wind is accelerating at supersonic speeds.Secondly, scientists hope to understand the secret of the enormous temperatures of the crown. The visible surface of the Sun has a temperature of about 10,000 F, but, for reasons that we do not fully understand, the crown is hundreds of times warmer, reaching several million degrees F. It's counter-intuitive, since that the energy of the Sun is in its nucleus. "It's a bit like you're getting away from a campfire and suddenly you're a lot warmer," says Nicky Fox, Parker Solar Probe Project Scientist
Finally, Parker Solar Probe Instruments should reveal the mechanisms behind the operation of the solar energy particle acceleration, which can reach speeds greater than half the speed of light when they distance from the sun These particles can interfere with satellite electronics, especially for satellites out of the Earth's magnetic field.
Why does it not melt?
According to NASA, Parker Solar has been designed to withstand extreme conditions and temperature fluctuations for the mission. "The key lies in its custom heat shield and an autonomous system that helps protect the mission from the sun's intense light emission, but allows the coronal material to touch the spaceship," the institution said. .
Parker Solar The probe will travel through a space with temperatures of several million degrees, the surface of the heat shield facing the sun will only heat up to about 2500 degrees Fahrenheit (about 1400 degrees Celsius). (With information from EFE and NASA).
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