Posted on 07/25/2004 4:00:40 PM PDT by aculeus
A mission to put an orbiting spacecraft around the Sun may get a second chance, after being rejected by the US space agency five years ago.
A positive assessment of the proposal by the National Research Council has renewed interest at Nasa.
So the team behind the idea is working on another study to examine how such a mission might be carried out.
A new vision for "Solar Probe" was outlined by the project's team at a space exploration conference in Paris.
But building a spacecraft that can survive repeated flybys of the Sun poses significant challenges.
"In order to go close to the Sun and make measurements, you have to deal with the incredible heat that you have there," said team member David J McComas, of the Southwest Research Institute in Texas, US.
"There's something like 2.4 megawatts on a reasonable-sized shield.
"Most of it is radiated out into space, but you still have kilowatts of power that you have to get rid of in other ways," he told the Committee on Space Research (Cospar) scientific assembly.
Sun's corona
The probe would carry a suite of instruments to examine particles and radiation emitted by the star.
It would also investigate the Sun's corona, magnetic field, and internal phenomena such as solar plumes.
Solar Probe might have a type of periscope that could take a safe portion of the Sun's light into the spacecraft for readings to be made.
Proposals for solar probe missions in the US go back as far as 1958. Over the years, many spacecraft designs have been put forward, but they can largely be grouped into two categories: the "dunce cap" and the "parabola".
The dunce cap is conical, to provide a large surface area. The parabola features a large heat shield and an antenna.
The definition team will also be adjusting the project outline to fit the current political climate.
"Nasa is currently pretty risk-averse, so we can't take too many risks. This has to be as low-risk as you can make a mission to go within four or five solar radii of the Sun," said Dr McComas.
The earliest the craft could launch is 2010.
© BBC MMIV
Over the years, many spacecraft designs have been put forward, but they can largely be grouped into two categories: the "dunce cap" and the "parabola"... The definition team will also be adjusting the project outline to fit the current political climate.hey, what did they mean by that? PARTISAN BIAS!!! ;')
Do you have any idea what aerospace-grade Coppertone costs!!!!
There are no clouds on the sun, silly. It would rain and put the sun out!
I would design the satelite with car doors. When it gets too close to the sun and it gets hot, they can roll down the windows and let it cool off.
If they want to make it a perfect 1 AU orbit I've got some room in my backyard.
But at least it's dry heat.
Nah, they need to plan for a night landing.
"Anybody NOT wearing 2 billion sunblock is gonna have a REAL bad day!"
It's not the heat, it's the humidity.
So you mean it's a dry heat?
I would, if someone hadn't already used that joke...
LOL!
I'd send Michael Moore, but I'm afraid the gravity well around Moore will stretch the Sun too much.
The South Pole I heard is even cooler, if I'm not mistaken during the winter it's been known to get a little snow in the mountains.
It's cooler at night, but you may need a flashlight.
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