Among all the planets in Space, one the of the hardest to get close to. Is the star Sun. Reason being that the Sun is so hot, it would destroy anything that comes near it. However, now NASA is all set to send probe close to Sun. NASA will send a car-sized NASA probe which is going to be closest. Than any probe has ever been to Sun. The probe will endure the harsh environment of the Solar corona. Moreover, would be used to study the outer part of the Sun.
Details of the problem.
The probe which is called Parker Solar Probe. The Parker Solar Probe is a spacecraft. A robotic spacecraft which would be launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida. As per current news, it will be launched on Aug 6. The probe is as small as a small car.
How far is the NASA probe set to fly?
The probe is set to fly into Sun’s corona within 3.8 million miles (6.1 million km). Of Sun’s surface. Which surprisingly is seven times closer than any probe so far.
What do experts say?
As per Nicola Fox who is a project scientist from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, To send a probe where you haven’t been before being ambitious. However, To send it into such brutal conditions is highly energetic.
Before this, the closest a probe went to the sun was Helios 2. In 1979 the probe went as close as 27 million miles. The distance from Sun to Earth is 93 million miles (150 million km).
Alex Young, a solar scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. Said,
For them, It’s of fundamental importance to be able to predict this space weather, just like they predict weather here on Earth, in the most extreme cases of these space weather events, which can actually affect our power grids here on Earth.”
It surely is an excellent achievement for NASA. No NASA probe has ever been able to do this. Also, this indeed would provide much information about the places. The total budget of the program is $1.5 billion.