NASA Solar Probe Sets Controls for the Heart of the Sun, Literally
47 replies, posted
[QUOTE=Popular Science]In a mission to learn more about the sun’s inner workings, NASA is planning to launch a specially shielded spacecraft in 2018 that will plunge into the solar atmosphere. The car-sized Solar Probe Plus will explore an area just 4 million miles from the star’s surface, the last region of the solar system to be explored by humans.
NASA just announced five science experiments that will fly on the scorching probe, which will be protected by a carbon-fiber heat shield that can withstand temperatures of 2,500 degrees F.
When the probe is 4 million miles away, the solar disk will loom 23 times wider in the sky than it does on Earth.
The mission will help scientists better understand solar radiation. Improved solar storm forecasts could protect future long-distance space explorers who would not be protected by Earth’s magnetic field.
The SWEAP solar wind experiment will count the electrons, protons and helium ions in the solar wind and measure their properties. It will also catch some in a special cup for analysis.
Another science mission will use a wide-field camera to take 3-D pictures of the solar wind as the spacecraft flies through it. Another will take direct measurements of the sun’s magnetic fields, radio emissions and shock waves, and the one more will take an inventory of the sun’s contents.
“For the very first time, we'll be able to touch, taste and smell our sun,” said Lika Guhathakurta, Solar Probe Plus program scientist at NASA headquarters.
NASA’s goals are to figure out why the sun’s corona is several hundred times hotter than the surface and why it produces an accelerating solar wind. Scientists already have high-resolution images and data of the transition zone between the atmosphere and the surface, and the solar wind has been studied extensively — but still, no one can answer some fundamental questions about the sun’s evolution. The only way to do it is to go to the source, NASA says. Here's hoping the spacecraft doesn't get burned.
[img]http://www.popsci.com/files/imagecache/article_image_large/articles/sun_4.jpg[/img][/QUOTE]
Source: [url]http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-09/nasa-solar-probe-sets-controls-heart-sun-literally[/url]
that is just really cool
That's awesome. What all can we do with the info though? Does it really help us?
[quote]“For the very first time, we'll be able to touch, taste and smell our sun,” said Lika Guhathakurta, Solar Probe Plus program scientist at NASA headquarters.[/quote]
I bet it tastes like chicken.
Nooo probe, don't kill yourself. You have so much to live for :saddowns:
[QUOTE=trent_roolz;24588386]That's awesome. What all can we do with the info though? Does it really help us?[/QUOTE]
Like it says, it will help us predict solar storms.
[QUOTE=FinalHunter;24588412]Wow 2018!
Great timing NASA! Maybe by then we'll have been hit by that solar flare that is supposed to come in 2012-2013.
Why are they waiting so fucking long? NASA needs to get off their ass.[/QUOTE]
They are waiting so fucking long because this isn't just a drive to your mother.
It's complicated shit.
[QUOTE=FinalHunter;24588412]Wow 2018!
Great timing NASA! Maybe by then we'll have been hit by that solar flare that is supposed to come in 2012-2013.
Why are they waiting so fucking long? NASA needs to get off their ass.[/QUOTE]
oh
it's cool NASA you can stop, FinalHunter's got this shit
[QUOTE=FinalHunter;24588412]Wow 2018!
Great timing NASA! Maybe by then we'll have been hit by that solar flare that is supposed to come in 2012-2013.
Why are they waiting so fucking long? NASA needs to get off their ass.[/QUOTE]
You do realize that solar flares happen all the time right?
There will be no world killing solar flare for fuck sake.
It'll be a CME which is much worse :colbert:
[QUOTE=LarparNar;24588485]They are waiting so fucking long because this isn't just a drive to your mother.[/QUOTE]
Same escape velocity
[QUOTE=FinalHunter;24588544]Neither of us have it.
Obama stole NASA's and my funding and put it into his vacations.
Sorry.[/QUOTE]
I posted this a couple days ago.
[quote=ASmellyOgreV2;24506992]No, Obama canned the Constellation program, which was a bloated piece of shit that would have done nothing.
Instead, he increased funding, extended the life of the ISS to 2020, is relying on private companies for most near-Earth missions, will have a government-made deep-space spacecraft by 2025, set the goal of moving an asteroid's orbit as a planetary defense system against asteroids, and promised to get to Mars by the mid 2030's. This is by far the best plan that could have been drafted for space. It's realistic, helps to stimulate the economy (the companies being funded are American), and is incredibly fast-paced.[/quote]
Also, he's human. Everybody goes on vacation. Especially people with stressful jobs, like Presidents.
If a big bad solar storm takes down my PSU Ill be mad.
Tread title's a bit off, this isn't the heart of the sun so much as it's far outer layers. No known material could survive the temps inside the sun.
Anyways, this is still pretty cool.
[QUOTE=Xen Tricks;24590793]Tread title's a bit off, this isn't the heart of the sun so much as it's far outer layers. No known material could survive the temps inside the sun.
Anyways, this is still pretty cool.[/QUOTE]
The material inside the sun can withstand the temp in there :downs:
(Great song)
damned automerge thing
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;24590927]The material inside the sun can withstand the temp in there :downs:[/QUOTE]
You know what I mean, smartass. :mad:
[QUOTE=FinalHunter;24588412]Wow 2018!
Great timing NASA! Maybe by then we'll have been hit by that solar flare that is supposed to come in 2012-2013.
Why are they waiting so fucking long? NASA needs to get off their ass.[/QUOTE]
Because a probe can reach the sun in 5 minutes...
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;24590927]The material inside the sun can withstand the temp in there :downs:[/QUOTE]
Metallic hydrogen and hydrogen plasma doesn't count :colbert:
[QUOTE=FinalHunter;24588544]Neither of us have it.
Obama stole NASA's and my funding and put it into his vacations.
Sorry.
[editline]02:29PM[/editline]
I'm talking about the bigass one that is supposed to knock down the power grids.
[editline]02:31PM[/editline]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_TzIUlaQok[/media]
Fine. Jesus.
And please, don't discredit it because it's Fox News.
Michio Kaku knows what he's talking about.[/QUOTE]
Michio Kaku knows what he's talking about, yes. The newscaster is using his reference completely wrong though.
The physicist is responding to the theory of a giant "storm" of radiation from, yes, solar flares.
The newscaster was told to report that this storm is [i]definitely[/i] coming and will hit us. The physicist set no parameters for when such a thing could happen, only talked about what [i]could[/i] happen what has happened in the past.
Plus FOX News thought that it would be literally a giant ball of fire the size of the sun(?) according to their 3D diagram.
[QUOTE=Xen Tricks;24590793]Tread title's a bit off, this isn't the heart of the sun so much as it's far outer layers. No known material could survive the temps inside the sun.
Anyways, this is still pretty cool.[/QUOTE]
It's not really a matter of temperature, but pressure.
[QUOTE=FinalHunter;24588544]Michio Kaku knows what he's talking about.[/QUOTE]
pppffffffAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
[QUOTE=FinalHunter;24588412]Wow 2018!
Great timing NASA! Maybe by then we'll have been hit by that solar flare that is supposed to come in 2012-2013.
Why are they waiting so fucking long? NASA needs to get off their ass.[/QUOTE]
>.> Maybe they need to umblock funds? build the probe first? update their technologie? i dunno bet meh
[QUOTE=FinalHunter;24588544]
Obama stole NASA's and my funding and put it into his vacations.
[/QUOTE]
You're not very bright are you.
[QUOTE=FinalHunter;24591313]Are you an established and respected physicist?
I don't think so.[/QUOTE]
Hey, can you stop being a dumb ass? I think NASA has more expertise on BOTH matters than you do, so stop fear mongering over something that wont influence us in any major way.
You seem to be a 2012 nut, who found out about the solar flare (Hint: They happen a lot, even intense ones like this wont influence ground-based electronics, it MIGHT knock out some satellites, but that's it.)
[QUOTE=FinalHunter;24588544]Neither of us have it.
Obama stole NASA's and my funding and put it into his vacations.
[/QUOTE]
You do realize Bush had the highest number of vacations of any president?
[QUOTE=JerryK;24588364]that is just really cool[/QUOTE]
:iceburn:
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