Posted on 12/20/2024 9:44:01 AM PST by Red Badger
The Parker Solar Probe is on an ambitious mission to study the origins of the solar wind – the constant stream of charged particles flowing outward from the sun. Despite over half a century of scientific investigation since its discovery in the 1960s, the phenomenon's precise source within the corona remains unknown.
We're just days away from the Parker Solar Probe making its closest approach yet to the sun. The little spacecraft will barrel through the sun's outer atmosphere on Christmas Eve, passing within just 3.8 million miles of the surface below.
That may sound like a significant distance, but for a red-hot celestial ball with a diameter of 865,370 miles, this is the closest we'll have ever been. In fact, the probe will go right through the solar corona, which is the super-heated atmosphere extending millions of miles from the sun's visible surface. Because of this, the probe will endure extremes few things on Earth do, with NASA estimating its heat shield will experience temperatures exceeding 2,500°F.
Nicky Fox, who formerly served as the probe's project scientist before becoming NASA's Chief Scientist, explained to Ars Technica that the core objective is to pinpoint the birthplace of solar winds.
To unlock that mystery, there's no substitute for actually venturing into the sun's outer atmosphere to take measurements. But as Fox noted, that's an immense engineering challenge because the sun is, quite literally, on fire.
The probe had to be meticulously designed to endure the extreme heat and radiation of the corona, only to rapidly cycle back into the cold vacuum of space on its elliptical orbits around the sun. Fox elaborated that careful material selection was crucial, requiring lightweight yet durable components that could withstand drastic temperature shifts without becoming brittle or exhibiting changing properties.
Exotic metal alloys like titanium-zirconium-molybdenum with melting points over 4,200°F were used for sensors exposed to the sun's intensity. Even the wiring, which was built using niobium, needed special sapphire crystal insulation to prevent it from melting. It took years of planning and technological breakthroughs to build a spacecraft capable enough.
Appropriately, the probe honors the physicist Eugene Parker, who originally predicted the existence of the solar wind back in the 1950s. This theory initially met with widespread skepticism, that is until observations from 1962's Mariner 2 spacecraft confirmed it.
Now over six years into its mission, the Parker Solar Probe is gearing up to provide our most extreme glimpse yet into the sun's atmosphere and the origins of this fundamental solar phenomenon.
Despite incredible achievements like becoming the fastest human-made object at over 430,000 mph, the probe hasn't gotten much mainstream attention lately. But that may change after this record-close encounter and the new scientific insights it might bring.
Image credit: NASA
HOT! HOT! BOT! Ping!.............
I hope I’m in before the “we’ll go at night” joke.
Good choice. It will be dark on Christmas Eve.
Yes, you are.
And the submarine with the screen door
Wasn’t there a Star Trek original series episode where they got too close to a star and everyone was sweating on the bridge?
Look into the Sun (Steven Wilson Stereo Remix) | 4:37
Jethro Tull | 285K subscribers | 111,180 views | February 16, 2017
Disaster Area’s stunt ship?
Look - we hope - for Elon to offer rides for dem pols.
Technically it was a tie.
That would be silly!
We should have done it during the eclipse.
Don’t let Biff Tannen hear that! :^)
You are. AOC suggests approaching from the dark side for safety.
This thread reminds me of the #1 root cause of global warming. Maybe Mike Johnson will roll out a Christmas surprise for us next year of 1547 pages of the US government needing to borrow an additional 1547 trillion dollars from China to start a Solar Fire Department so we can cool down the sun and thus reduce global warming? Of course none of us will see anything on this until a week before Christmas because Mike will be so busy sucking up to Chuck Schumer and his buddies all over the Hill and K-Street beforehand secretly planning this surprise for us.
the core objective is to pinpoint the birthplace of solar winds.
We are now approaching solar sunrise, and for all the people back on Earth, the crew of the Parker Solar Probe has a message that we would like to send to you.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
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