We're About To Fly a Spacecraft Into the Sun For the First Time (arstechnica.com) 18
NASA's Parker Solar Probe will make its closest approach yet to the Sun on Christmas Eve, flying within 3.8 million miles of the solar surface and entering its atmosphere for the first time.
The spacecraft, which travels at speeds up to 430,000 miles per hour, aims to study the origins of solar wind -- the stream of charged particles emanating from the Sun's corona. The probe's heat shield will endure temperatures exceeding 2,500-degree Fahrenheit during the flyby, requiring specialized materials like sapphire crystal tubes and niobium wiring to protect its instruments.
The spacecraft, which travels at speeds up to 430,000 miles per hour, aims to study the origins of solar wind -- the stream of charged particles emanating from the Sun's corona. The probe's heat shield will endure temperatures exceeding 2,500-degree Fahrenheit during the flyby, requiring specialized materials like sapphire crystal tubes and niobium wiring to protect its instruments.
Set the controls (Score:1)
for the heart of the sun...
Re: (Score:2)
Mod Parent Back Up!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
"Houston, there is a Santa Claus" (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Nah, they can't. They'd have to fly going to the Sun from the dark side of the Sun and it's like the dark side of the Moon, we can't ever see it from Earth. The corollary is that radio-transmission would then be blocked by the mass of the Sun. Great idea although thinking of it. With relay stations, it might work indeed.
Re: (Score:2)
disney owns that idea now
First time? (Score:3)
Yes, it's getting closer to the sun this time than it (or any other spacecraft) ever has before (it did it's final Venus flyby on Nov 6 [nasa.gov]). The story is cool enough that it doesn't need made up "firsts".
Journey to the far side of the sun (Score:1)
They double-checked ... (Score:2, Funny)
flying within 3.8 million miles of the solar surface
Re: They double-checked ... (Score:2, Troll)
There's two kind of countries...ones that use metric units in everyday speech, and ones that landed men on the Moon, invented the airplane, the internet, and the social media that's corrupting today's youth.
Re: (Score:2)
It's truly bizarre, the story of the metric system in the US. From the Metric Act of 1866, being one of the original 17 signatory countries to the Metre Convention, the Metric Conversion Act of 1975, Executive Order 12770 (George H. W. Bush) directed departments and agencies within the executive branch of the United States Government to "take all appropriate measures within their authority" to use the metric system "as the preferred system of weights and measures for United States trade and commerce".
So...
Re: (Score:1)
So... why the stubbornness? At this point it almost seems like it's just a long running inside joke that the rest of us don't get.
Oh yes, it absolutely takes a special kind of moron country to keep using anything not 10-based just for historical inertia reasons, when base-10 is so vastly superior.
On an unrelated note, remind me, how many minutes in a day? Was it 100 or 1000?
Old joke comes to mind (Score:2)
In the 1960s, America landed a man on the Moon.
Not to be outdone, Poland announced a mission to land a man on the Sun.
"But the Sun is too hot!"
So they replied: "That is no problem, we will land at night.
Finally! (Score:2)
Bradbury's The Golden Apples of the Sun [wikipedia.org] is coming true!
Re: (Score:2)
New NASA Chief MTG said they sent the probe at night so it wouldn't get to hot.
Douglas Adams foresaw this (Score:2)
Disaster Area are a plutonium rock band fronted by Hotblack Desiato from the Gagrakacka Mind Zones...
As a finale they fly their spaceship into a sun as a special effect for the concert.
Adams was a Pink Floyd fan, this refers to the song 'Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun'