The star-skimming spacecraft (PARKER SOLAR PROBE)
American physicist Eugene Parker in the 1950s predicted about solar wind’s existence which was verified in the 1960s.
Honoring the physicist’s name, a well-equipped spacecraft named ‘Parker Solar Probe ‘has been launched in 2018 to investigate the sun’s emitted materials, solar wind in particular. The probe has been designed to fly into the outermost part of the Sun’s atmosphere, the corona. Currently. Parker Solar Probe has already gotten closer to the sun than any other human-made object. The $1.5 billion probe can endure the heat usingfour-inch-thick carbon-composite shields. Meaning the Parker Solar Probe and its instruments are protected from the Sun’s radiation & heat by a 4.5-inch-thick (11.43 cm) carbon-composite shield, which can withstand temperatures reaching nearly 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,377 Celsius). To perform unprecedented investigations the carbon composite shield is a requirement.
“Still, the origin of the solar wind remains a longstanding puzzle in astrophysics,” Chitta, L (the German physicist) said. “A key challenge is to identify the dominant physical process that powers the solar wind.”
Sun is the only star that we can study up close. Brutal heat and radiation prohibit any probe/spacecraft from going closer to it. The nearest accessible spot is well – within the orbit of Mercury. Parker’s true aim is to discover more about the sun. The one particular solar mystery that scientists are hoping to solve with this flyby is: why our star’s outer atmosphere is over 200 times hotter than the underlying surface. The corona’s estimated temperature exceeds 2 million F (1.1 million C), while the photosphere is around 10,000 F (5,500 C).
The massive heat shield is for protection of the probe and its equipment during perihelion, the point in the probe’s orbit closest to the star. It has been reported that at this juncture, temperatures in the front of the spacecraft may reach around 1,400°C. At its closest approach, the spacecraft will come within about 3.9 million miles (6.2 million kilometers) of the Sun.
PARKER PROBE ―Highlights
- Launched in 2018, the probe has the goal of making close passes of the Sun. This mission enables direct investigation of solar material, such as charged particles and magnetic fields, offering scientists previously unseen information about the Sun’s dynamics.
- In December 2021, NASA made history by announcing that, for the very first time, a spacecraft had contacted the Sun by flying through its corona.
- The solar probe flew through a massive outflow of stellar material called a coronal mass ejection (CME) in September 2022 and survived.
- According to the BBC, the spacecraft is projected to travel through the exceptionally hostile atmosphere around our sun, the star in 2024 at an incredible speed of 195 km/s or 435,000 mph.
- The probe is scheduled to come within 3.9 million miles of the Sun’s surface during its flyby in 2024, making it closer than even the planet Mercury’s orbit. The Sun’s powerful gravitational attraction will assist the probe to reach this high speed.
- Solar Probe will race past the Sun at the astonishing speed of 195 km/s, or 435,000 mph. get so close to the star – just 6.1 million km, or 3.8 million miles from the Sun’s “surface”.
- The mission is scheduled to finish in 2025, after the probe’s 24th flyby of the sun.
The illustration shows the Parker Solar Probe as it approaches the sun.© NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben
REFERENCE:
1/10/24 on msn.com About Parker Solar Probe