This new NASA probe will get closer to the Sun than any other spacecraft in history
NASA will be sending in 2018 a solar probe that will get closer to the Sun than any other spacecraft in history, Inhabitat.com reports.
”The Parker Solar Probe mission – which NASA describes as humanity’s first visit to a star – will take us closer to the sun than ever before. The probe will need to endure extreme radiation and heat as it ventures into the outer part of the sun’s atmosphere, the corona,” a statement issued by NASA said.
The instrments inside the spacecraft will be able to image solar wind and provide detailed information on plasma, energetic particles and magnetic fiels, being protected by a 4,5-inch-thick carbon-composite shield.
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The probe is named after astrophysicist Eugene Parker, a professor emeritus at the University of Chicago. The solar probe is going to a region of space that has never been explored before. It’s very exciting that we’ll finally get a look. One would like to have some more detailed measurements of what’s going on in the solar wind. I’m sure that there will be some surprises. There always are,” Parker said in a statement.
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