Hello the adventurous, Whether you think about it or not, the sun affects our daily lives. It burns our skin from 150 kilometers away, it is basically our clock in the sky which runs our daily lives, it provides all living thing with nutrients, it’s explosion could kill off the planet, you get the idea. Surprisingly enough, science doesn’t know a lot about this star, other than it’s normal star behaviors. This is why NASA sent the Parker Solar Probe to space on August 12, 2018.
Although the probe was just recently launched, this idea is not new at all. In fact, this is humanity’s closets look at the sun and will gather some very important data. Therefore, has taken a long time to get to the launch pad in Florida.
Mission was named after Professor Emeritus Eugene Parker, a Physics professor at the University of Chicago, for his revolutionary research on the sun. Prof. Parker became the first living person to see a launch dedicated to themselves.
“All I can say is wow, here we go. We’re in for some learning the next several years.” – Prof. Emeritus Eugene Parker
You probably guessed one of the main difficulties in getting to the sun. That’s right the heat. The sun is literally a burning ball of fire and gas at around 27 million degrees Fahrenheit which produces a little less than that.
How is this hunk of engineering going to withstand that? The answer is simple, most of this comes from a heat shield in the front that reflects off heat and keeps everything in the back safe as the probe constantly rotates to keep the shield facing the sun on its own. The shield is made out of a carbon and carbon-carbon outside with a carbon foam inside that makes for lightweight, yet effective protection.
The probe also has its own cooling systems that circulate water around the back of the spacecraft, much like our bodies do with blood. The missions main goal to collect critical data on the sun is carried out by four instruments in the back of the craft. So, it is important that all equipment is safe from the heat in order to operate.
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Adventurous Arla 