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NASA Plans Probe to the Sun

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the hope-they-bring-suntan-lotion dept.

FudRucker writes "For more than 400 years, astronomers have studied the sun from afar. Now NASA has decided to go there. 'We are going to visit a living, breathing star for the first time,' says program scientist Lika Guhathakurta of NASA Headquarters. 'This is an unexplored region of the solar system and the possibilities for discovery are off the charts.'"

1 of 352 comments (clear)

  1. That doesn't really answer the question by p3d0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The mission is 7 years long. In that time, wouldn't the heat shield reach thermal equilibrium, and become extremely hot itself, if not melt?

    Maybe they're just not going as close as we all think.

    --
    Patrick Doyle
    I mod down every jackass who puts his moderation policy in his sig. Oh, wait a sec....