On 31st may 2017, NASA is about to announce that they will be initiating a mission to reach the 5605 degree Celsius temperature Sun, the mission will be known as “Touch the Sun”.
In this mission the NASA’s Solar Probe Plus spacecraft will be launched and it has to reach the Sun’s orbit up to 5.9 million kilometers or one can even say 3.67 million miles of the Sun’s surface, though it is not exactly being on the surface however if you measure it in the celestial terms they are going to be pretty close to the Sun’s surface, the Solar Probe Plus spacecraft has to cope up with the high and boiling temperatures of the Sun unlike any other Probe, but every data it will be able to collect will help the astronomers to predict all the Solar storms and not only this but will also help us to get a good amount of idea of the deepest secrets of this anonymity around our stars.
Back in the year 1976, the NASA launched a 815 pound block of the instrument which was named as “Helios 2” which came about 43 million kilometers which is approximately 27 million miles away from the surface of the Sun and the whole mission was just to study Solar winds and the cosmic rays.
However the scientists hope that this “Touch the Sun” mission of the Solar Probe Plus will help us to solve all the mysteries related to the Sun’s corona, many people do not know what is Sun’s corona well it is nothing but a massive hole in the heart of the star, veterans believe that the Sun’s corona is way more cool than the Sun’s temperature although there are no real proofs of it. The Corona is placed 1300 miles away from the Sun’s surface i.e. the photosphere. This mission will help us solve the mystery of why is the Sun’s inner area hotter than the photosphere. Not only will this but also help us to know more about how the Solar wind accelerated.
According to NASA the Solar Probe Plus spacecraft will be making some critical observations about the historical questions and some unanswered questions that the physics have had. Not only this but after this mission the scientist will help us to know even more about the Solar weather events and the damage the human kind will be facing in the coming few years. Data will be collected on the Solar winds and Solar flares which are earth impacting and will help us to even forecast about the major weather events that are happening because of the mass ejections that are and could even affect the earth’s surface.
According to the previous predications the scientists have narrowed down that the human activities is the major reason that there is uncertainty in the Solar weather events, and according to the National academy of science without any warning signs or symbols there is a possibility of a Solar event could cause about 2 trillion of dollars of damage in the United States alone.
The Sun’s mega storm might end up damaging about 12 percent of the total earth according to the astronomers and there have been many other predications made too! The Solar Probe Plus will be definitely facing a lot of radiations as well the temperature of about 1400 degree Celsius at 6.5 kilometers closer to the Sun will be burning however the outcome of it will be worthy.
Many people might be wondering about how wills this even work? So after an interview with the Australian National University research school of Astronomy we got the answer that the major pull of that the Probe is going to have is the heat shield.
What exactly is a heat shield?
Well a heat shield is an 11.5 centimeter thick carbon composite shield which is tested to withstand the temperature of 1,400 degree Celsius. The carbon composite used in this has really allowed the Solar Probe Plus to sustain in the burn threatening temperatures.
Previously also the use of carbon has enables us to make Probes as well as launch them to endure such high temperatures under some of the solar systems and even in more hostile conditions.
In addition to the heat shield the 1.5 billion dollar worth Solar Probe Plus will even have an active water circulation system that will help the person to protect instruments that will enable them to measure the Sun’s corona electric and magnetic fields and plasma density including the electron temperatures.
The SPP (Solar Probe Plus) will also have an imaging system to take some pictures and snaps while they are closer to the earth’s surface.
The Solar Probe Plus will take place on Wednesday from the University of Chicago Williams Eckhardt Research center auditorium.
It’s very interesting to see some hidden facts about the sun. Good luck Nasa.