NASA Preps Closest-Ever Sun Mission

coondoggie writes "NASA today said it had picked five experiments that will ride aboard one of its most ambitious space missions to explore the Sun. The Solar Probe, a car-sized spacecraft, is scheduled to launch no later than 2018 and will fly closer to the Sun's surface than any other probe, NASA stated. Ultimately the spacecraft's goals are to help scientists understand why the sun's outer atmosphere so much hotter than the sun's visible surface and what propels the solar wind that affects Earth and our solar system, NASA said."

Pfst...

[bigredradio]

I don't see all the fuss. Why not just go at night?

The Solar probe...

[Anonymous Coward]

"will fly closer to the Sun's surface than any other probe" ...unless the wings are made of wax....

When it comes to naming the mission...

[jenningsthecat]

...I hope they don't decide to call it Icarus

Re:Pfst...

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't see all the fuss. Why not just go at night?

You mean, when the sun is beneath the earth? You can't launch a rocket into the ground, dumbass! The Soviets have tried, repeatedly. ...besides, it'll be hard to find in the dark..

Not true

[kpainter]

Actually, if you RTFA, it says the project will burn money as if it flew close to the sun.

Re:Pfst...

[JustOK]

a cloudy day during an eclipse on the winter solstice.

Calvin's Dad has all the answers...

[Anonymous Coward]

From various C&H cartoons, a bunch of his Dad's quotes are collected here: http://elise.com/quotes/a/ask_calvins_dad.php [elise.com] Q. Why does the sun set? A. It's because hot air rises. The sun's hot in the middle of the day, so it rises high in the sky. In the evening then, it cools down and sets. Q. Why does it go from east to west? A. Solar wind. Q. Why does the sky turn red as the sun sets? A. That's all the oxygen in the atmosphere catching fire. Q. Where does the sun go when it sets? A. The sun sets in the west. In Arizona actually, near Flagstaff. That's why the rocks there are so red. Q. Don't the people get burned up? A. No, the sun goes out as it sets. That's why it's dark at night. Q. Doesn't the sun crush the whole state as it lands? A. Ha ha, of course not. Hold a quarter up. See, the sun's just about the same size. Q. I thought I read that the sun was really big. A. You can't believe everything you read, I'm afraid.

Manned mission

[Anonymous Coward]

When do we land a human on the Sun? It's only exploration if it's done by humans.

Not only is the earth resource limited, so are all of the planets. We must terraform and colonize the Sun!

We're going to need a REALLY black ship.

[Shag]

And a depressed robot to open it.

Re:We're going to need a REALLY black ship.

[MichaelSmith]

Be sure to equip it with a working teleport, even though it does have a perfectly serviceable door.

Re:Manned mission

[node 3]

When do we land a human on the Sun?

Are you serious? The Sun's way too hot. Humans can't survive on the surface, except at night.

Re:Dipshits

[Man On Pink Corner]

Can't you dipshits go back to Digg?

I liked the annual September flamefest better when it was Usenet vs AOL.

Re:Pfst...

[Jesus_666]

Because they need to see the sun in order to make their measurements? Have you ever tried making accurate measurements in a dark room? That just doesn't work at all. They need light to read their instruments (and of course to make sure they're pointing in the right direction; you don't want to accidentally measure Mercury!), thus they go during the day.

Re:Pfst...

[ian_from_brisbane]

a cloudy night during an eclipse on the winter solstice.

Re:Pfst...

[h4rm0ny]

I don't see all the fuss. Why not just go at night?

If you bothered to read a bit more about the probe (yeah, it's Slashdot, who bothers to read?), you'd learn that the probe is going as close as 3 Solar Radii to the surface. The Sun's radius (it is correct to assume equatorial radius rather than mean radius for this purpose), is 6.955×10^5 km, meaning the probe will get as close as 2.087 x 10^6km at which point it states the solar radiation will have been sufficient to heat the probe to 2,550 degrees Fahrenheit.

Now, that radiation will not suddenly appear at a distance of 3 solar radii. The temperature is an accumulation of the radiation on the journey to that point as well as (and this is perhaps where you went wrong), that accumulated on the return journey up until the point that rate of heat absorption is exceeded by the rate of heat dissipation. What that means, is that although you propose "going at night" as a solution, the probe would in fact have to make it not only too a distance of 3 Solar Radii from the Sun during the hours of night, but also make the journey back again to a safe distance before morning. Even if they timed the mission during Winter (and this is irrelevant as the team are going for a May launch), you'd still face a limited window of around twelve hours. The rate of heat absorption from the Sun's energies will follow an inverse square law and I think it reasonable to consider significant heat build up therefore to kick in around 5 solar radii distance. Remember that heat dissipation in a vacuum is no trivial matter! So basically, in those twelve hours, you'd not only have to traverse a distance of 1.4*10^6km, but completely reverse your momentum to turn around and go back again. This is obviously unfeasible. Even if a spacecraft could be built that could take this sort of stress (strictly in the realms of sci-fi for now), you'd never carry sufficient fuel to generate this amount of energy. True, you could launch your probe from the extreme North or South, where night lasts much longer, but polar launches are extremely extravagant users of fuel - it is pretty much a requirement to launch from the Equatorial band.

So in short, your idea is a nice fantasy, but impractical if you actually understand the Physics involved.

Re:Pfst...

[h4rm0ny]

Ummm what the fuck is a radii?

"Radii" [wikipedia.org] - plural of radius, as in the term used by NASA "solar radii" that they use in their published material on the probe. That's what the fuck "a radii" is.

Yeah..I think they were all making jokes and you responded with a bunch of serious data. You must be new here.

Whereas you are clearly an old-hand at Slashdot since you've progressed from not merely RTFA, to not even RTFC to which you're replying. Yeah - my analysis of why visiting the Sun at night isn't feasible due to limits on acelleration is entirely a serious matter. :)

Muppet.