NASA Preps Closest-Ever Sun Mission 111
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."
Re:When it comes to naming the mission... (Score:3, Interesting)
They very well could, as far as I'm concerned. When you think about it, that old myth is quite close to what this probe will do. And what might very well destroy it... (thought it seems it's meant to survive many close approaches [wikipedia.org])
Re:Not true (Score:3, Interesting)
When the probe has reached the end of its life... (Score:2, Interesting)
...will they set the controls for the heart of the sun?
Trajectory? (Score:2, Interesting)
So, does anyone know what the trajectory is? As any rocket scientist knows, a direct (minimum energy Hoffman style) trajectory that would have them skim the surface of the sun (or even get it closer than Mercury) would require a huge amount of delta-V (and a huge rocket for a little payload, we're talking Saturn V size). That, of course is why NASA's Mercury orbiter (now approaching orbital insertion) used several (3-4?) gravity assists using both Venus and Mercury).
So what is this thing going to do? Maybe the delta-V requirements won't be as extreme (I assume it will go into a highly elliptical orbit) so perhaps some gravity assists around the inner planets will suffice. Or maybe a much more ambitious(?) plan will be used, to send it out to Jupiter whose deep gravity well could cancel its orbital momentum in one fell swoop and, if used to the extreme, would send it plummeting directly into the sun. Of course they won't but it could send it in a wide variety of orbits such as over the Sun's poles. This of course was the trajectory used by Ulysses which gave us our first views "overhead" (but at a much greater distance).
Of course if they send it out to Jupiter, the spacecraft will need to be able to survive the relative cold, low power (from the illustrations it uses solar panels) and high radiation environment (presumably the sun isn't as radioactive, just hot) as well as the extremes from a close encounter with the sun. Also the trip may be longer (but these inner planet swing-bys take time as well). So my guess is, despite the additional orbital flexibility, the additional requirements would argue against it. (On the other hand, it would be easy to add a small detachable probe that, as I mentioned before, could actually impact the sun!).
Anyone know what trajectory the will be using?
P.S. You know, the fact that the precisely tracked radio transmitting probe will end up in a highly eccentric orbit around the deepest gravity well in our solar system would really make it a great additional test for Einstein's theory of general relativity. Not that it really needs additional verification but why not?
P.P.S. The technology isn't quite ready yet but this, of course, would be a very good use of a solar sail. At the much closer distances to the sun that this probe is going, even a relatively small, inefficient sail could really be useful in changing it's trajectory. (By tacking "against" the direction of orbital motion it could fall closer to the sun). Then, with it's mission over, the same sail could blow it out into interstellar space (and as it got further from the sun, could reflect some of the light onto the probe's solar panels keeping it powered. Just thinking out loud.
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