Parker Solar Probe

Mission Overview:

     National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA's) Parker Solar Probe will be the first ever mission to touch the sun. The spacecraft is about the size of the small car, which will travel directly into the sun's atmosphere about four million miles from our star's surface. The launch date is slated for summer 2018.

Journey to the Sun:

In order to unlock the mysteries of the sun's atmosphere, Parker Solar Probe will use Venus gravity during seven flybys over nearly seven years to gradually bring its orbit closer to the sun. The spacecraft will fly through the sun's atmosphere as close as 3.9 million miles to our star's surface, well within the orbit of Mercury and more than seven times closer than any spacecraft has come before 

Extreme Exploration:

     Parker Solar Probe will perform its scientific investigations in a hazardous region of intense heat and solar radiation. The spacecraft will fly close enough to the sun to watch the solar wind speed up from subsonic to supersonic, and it will fly through the birthplace of the high-energy solar particles.

     To perform this unprecedented investigations, the spacecraft and its instruments will be protected from the sun's heat by 4.5 inch thick carbon composited shield, which will need to withstand temperatures outside the spacecraft that reach nearly 2,500 F which is equal to 1,377 degree Celsius.

More Information:

• Know more about Parker Solar Probe

Credits : Text and Image Credit : NASA