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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.'"

8 of 352 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Think, then open mouth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Well the Earth IS "dead" stardust, and so are you!

  2. Re:Bad project name by CarlosHawes · · Score: 2, Interesting

    "Icarus" was the name of the spacecraft sent to kick start the sun with a massive nuclear device in the 2007 film "Sunshine" (EXCELLENT movie INHO). At the risk of spoilers, let's just say that all kinds of things go wrong :)

  3. Re:Okay? by Felgerkarb · · Score: 2, Interesting
    As mentioned before, the corona is much much hotter than the surface. But still not an issue in this case. From the FTA:

    "At closest approach, Solar Probe+ will be 7 million km or 9 solar radii from the sun. There, the spacecraft's carbon-composite heat shield must withstand temperatures greater than 1400o C and survive blasts of radiation at levels not experienced by any previous spacecraft." Still lots of engineering issues, though.
  4. Re:Think, then open mouth by mshannon78660 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Well, Jupiter is better described as a 'stillborn' star, rather than a dead star, but we have indeed visited it. Had its mass been a little higher (roughly 13 times what it is), it would be classified as a brown dwarf

  5. Communication by RockoTDF · · Score: 2, Interesting

    TFA doesn't explain how this thing is going to get the data back. Doesn't the radiation of the Sun interfere with that? I only ask because there is no mention of the probe coming back to Earth.

    --
    There is more to science than physics!

    www.iomalfunction.blogspot.com
  6. Re:Okay? by Original+Replica · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Not just heat energy, but insane amounts of radiation across the spectrum.

    The tech they develop for radiation protection for this sun probe should be a great asset for any man on Mars mission. Cosmic radiation and solar storms will be as major hurdle to extended manned space missions outside of earth's magnetosphere. I should hope that the solar probe has magnetic shielding, just to get a high stress test of tech.

    --
    We are all just people.
  7. Wait. I've done this... by MRe_nl · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Elite has Landed! woohoo ;)

    Anybody remember that mission?
    Hell, it's 2008 allready...
    Anybody remember that game?

    --
    "Kill 'em all and let Root sort 'em out"
  8. Re:Okay? by apoc.famine · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Not to inject off-topic facts into this discussion, (ok, I can't resist it) but Corona is one of the worst beers ever.

    You see, there are three major things (aside from frat boys) which ruin beer: heat, (not too hard to work around) oxygen, and light.

    Corona is in a clear bottle in a low six-pack, with a twist-top. The twist-top is far worse at sealing out oxygen, the low cardboard lets in more light, and the clear bottle lets in even more.

    How do you fix these problems? Jack it full of preservatives, and then market the culture of the beer to revolve around adding some citric acid to hide that shitty taste. Compare Corona against a well crafted, all natural ale, and most people can taste the shite in it. For instance, try really seriously comparing Corona against a good Belgian white ale. The taste difference is amazing.

    God I've turned into a beer snob. Hand-crafted Belgian ales ftw.

    --
    Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor