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NASA Preps Closest-Ever Sun Mission
coondoggie writes "NASA today said it had picked five experiments that will ride aboard one of its most ambitious space missions to explore the Sun. The Solar Probe, a car-sized spacecraft, is scheduled to launch no later than 2018 and will fly closer to the Sun's surface than any other probe, NASA stated. Ultimately the spacecraft's goals are to help scientists understand why the sun's outer atmosphere so much hotter than the sun's visible surface and what propels the solar wind that affects Earth and our solar system, NASA said."
Their own NASA SOHO C3 satelite films pictures of foreign craft fly next to the sun,
yet NASA will not ackowledge this fact they should be researching and developing to
stimulate civilian arts as metalurgy rather than waste U$10k/lb putting their combusting
junk into orbit.
I don't see all the fuss. Why not just go at night?
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And how are they gonna shield that probe from the heat? Let me guess, they fly at night? :D
"will fly closer to the Sun's surface than any other probe" ...unless the wings are made of wax....
Just wondering.
...I hope they don't decide to call it Icarus
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
Ultimately the spacecraft's goals are to help scientists understand why the sun's outer atmosphere so much hotter than the sun's visible surface and what propels the solar wind ...
I thought they'd figured that out (recently): Vibrations of the solar magnetic field line loops pump energy into the plasma fraction of the gas above the visible "surface", heating it. Reconnection of the lines cause the new loops to expand like released springs, catapulting the entrapped plasma outward.
Didn't that work out once they finished the math on the details?
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Actually, if you RTFA, it says the project will burn money as if it flew close to the sun.
all that it discovers is a booming voice shouting BURN WITH ME!
Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds.There upon the rainbow is the answer to a neverending story
How does "NASA" SAY anything? This is like "The White House Said..."
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maybe it's just our lack of a genuine atmosphere? it's doubtful anything will get close enough to the sun to goof it up, but there's no doubt that we'll try.
From various C&H cartoons, a bunch of his Dad's quotes are collected here: http://elise.com/quotes/a/ask_calvins_dad.php Q. Why does the sun set? A. It's because hot air rises. The sun's hot in the middle of the day, so it rises high in the sky. In the evening then, it cools down and sets. Q. Why does it go from east to west? A. Solar wind. Q. Why does the sky turn red as the sun sets? A. That's all the oxygen in the atmosphere catching fire. Q. Where does the sun go when it sets? A. The sun sets in the west. In Arizona actually, near Flagstaff. That's why the rocks there are so red. Q. Don't the people get burned up? A. No, the sun goes out as it sets. That's why it's dark at night. Q. Doesn't the sun crush the whole state as it lands? A. Ha ha, of course not. Hold a quarter up. See, the sun's just about the same size. Q. I thought I read that the sun was really big. A. You can't believe everything you read, I'm afraid.
Vibrations of the solar magnetic field line loops pump energy into the plasma fraction of the gas above the visible "surface", heating it. Reconnection of the lines cause the new loops to expand like released springs, catapulting the entrapped plasma outward.
Discoveries like these really make you wonder and marvel at the incredible physics of the universe. I mean, who makes up all this stuff? It's just incredible to see atoms and molecules self-align themselves according to pre-planned rules like gravity, electromagnetism etc in a seeminly random way to create what is.
...will they set the controls for the heart of the sun?
When do we land a human on the Sun? It's only exploration if it's done by humans.
Not only is the earth resource limited, so are all of the planets. We must terraform and colonize the Sun!
"...what propels the solar wind that affects Earth and our solar system."
The Sun: "Shoo fly, you bother me...Pffffffff"
Solar Probe: (Fawoooosh!)
NASA: "Well....Shit. There goes $250 million."
And a depressed robot to open it.
Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
They should name the probe "Bitch". Then all the captions will read, "Sun of a Bitch".
Table-ized A.I.
Lazors made by man are usually nothing highly ineffectient having no termination point, yet all the reports from abductees always reference the beams of light levitating them off the ground as though a dimensional breach of consistent matter drawing them to it's source while radiating light energy.
The "artifacts" in the video are actual photographs of a LIVE LEAKED STREAM taken over the course over the year, and are not blurs from failed photography: they are actual RAYS of light that penetrate the sun from a source. Basic geometry here, idiot. Enjoy being modded-up to conceal your flamebait that does more to silence discussion rather than answer questions.
Thanks to dipshits like you, the first relevant comment is several pages down, after a bunch of attempts to be funny. A few of those attempts were very mildly successful. The rest were not.
Can't you dipshits go back to Digg? I'm all for humor but when I want entertainment Slashdot is one of the last places I'd go. Alas, Slashdot is descending into the average infotainment type of media hellhole that the rabble and the riff-raff and other dumb masses consume in very large quantities. God forbid that anything remain a contrast to that for very long. Slashdot had a good run though, it remained intellectually stimulating and thought-provoking for several years and still has the occasional gem. Then everyone had to be a comedian, but there was only one problem: almost none of you are any good at it.
To get even closer they'd have to fluid-cool the heat shield to stop it melting. So is there a faster way to cool a fluid than by passive radiation? Say, converting the energy into a laser, or some form of luminescence?
Presumably, they're trying to make measurements that will confirm (or contradict) that theoretical work.
They should name the probe "Bitch". Then all the captions will read, "Sun of a Bitch".
Lame.
My only question is if the probe runs solaris?
A "the Golden Apples of the sun" type of mision?
Or a "ice missile delivery system" type of mission?
Please. Mod funny. please? (or offtopic)
*** Suerte a todos y Feliz dia!
"NASA today said it had picked five experiments that will ride aboard one of its most ambitious space missions to explore the Sun. The Solar Probe, a car-sized spacecraft"..............
So what kinda car is it compared to? A hoopdie like an El Dorado II? Or something more contemporary like a Tata?
Or maybe a Nova, perhaps? I'd think that'd be a "no go", IMHO, but then, this IS NASA we're talking about........
Then give it a talking motorcycle.
For some reason both the article and the probe's homepage skips mentioning how close to the sun this probe will approach. It is based on an earlier, rejected mission that would go as close as 4 solar radii, and to make things cheaper it will go to a closest distance of 9.5 solar radii. That is the perihelion distance - the orbit will be elliptical. For comparison, Mercury's never gets closer to the sun than about 61 times times the radius of the sun.
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First pics are back:
http://rookery.s3.amazonaws.com/828500/828687_2c76_625x1000.jpg
from what I know, all that is based on heavy numerical simulations (prone to errors in the assumptions, lack of more thorough numerics, etc). The simulations are based on parameters determined from measurements made from distances longer than those that will be reached with this new probe, and on assumptions also extrapolated from everything observed "from here". Summed up, that explanation could be right or completely wrong. We have to measure more and from smaller distances.
The Solar Probe, a car-sized spacecraft
So is this the flying car that we all have been waiting for?
Where can I get one, and what does it cost?
Does it look like something out of The Jetsons?
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
So, does anyone know what the trajectory is? As any rocket scientist knows, a direct (minimum energy Hoffman style) trajectory that would have them skim the surface of the sun (or even get it closer than Mercury) would require a huge amount of delta-V (and a huge rocket for a little payload, we're talking Saturn V size). That, of course is why NASA's Mercury orbiter (now approaching orbital insertion) used several (3-4?) gravity assists using both Venus and Mercury).
So what is this thing going to do? Maybe the delta-V requirements won't be as extreme (I assume it will go into a highly elliptical orbit) so perhaps some gravity assists around the inner planets will suffice. Or maybe a much more ambitious(?) plan will be used, to send it out to Jupiter whose deep gravity well could cancel its orbital momentum in one fell swoop and, if used to the extreme, would send it plummeting directly into the sun. Of course they won't but it could send it in a wide variety of orbits such as over the Sun's poles. This of course was the trajectory used by Ulysses which gave us our first views "overhead" (but at a much greater distance).
Of course if they send it out to Jupiter, the spacecraft will need to be able to survive the relative cold, low power (from the illustrations it uses solar panels) and high radiation environment (presumably the sun isn't as radioactive, just hot) as well as the extremes from a close encounter with the sun. Also the trip may be longer (but these inner planet swing-bys take time as well). So my guess is, despite the additional orbital flexibility, the additional requirements would argue against it. (On the other hand, it would be easy to add a small detachable probe that, as I mentioned before, could actually impact the sun!).
Anyone know what trajectory the will be using?
P.S. You know, the fact that the precisely tracked radio transmitting probe will end up in a highly eccentric orbit around the deepest gravity well in our solar system would really make it a great additional test for Einstein's theory of general relativity. Not that it really needs additional verification but why not?
P.P.S. The technology isn't quite ready yet but this, of course, would be a very good use of a solar sail. At the much closer distances to the sun that this probe is going, even a relatively small, inefficient sail could really be useful in changing it's trajectory. (By tacking "against" the direction of orbital motion it could fall closer to the sun). Then, with it's mission over, the same sail could blow it out into interstellar space (and as it got further from the sun, could reflect some of the light onto the probe's solar panels keeping it powered. Just thinking out loud.
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It's the sun.
What they aren't telling you is that the space probe actually contains Dracula. NASA got tired of all the vampire stories so they are putting him down.
In the first place, wouldn't you love to have been there when they were testing the resistance of the composite carbon solar shield... 'Here Homer, this won't hurt a bit!'. I mean if the heat don't kill ya then the radiation may really upset your day! It must be amazingly well insulated and just how much tax dollars don't we know about the cost of materials that failed the testing necessary to know it wasn't just gonna become a very expensive bottle rocket! (or is it an M-80 on steroids?)
In the second place, if they're so sure about sending a probe into the sun's HOTTEST real estate, then why don't they build a second probe, a little fancier than the first one, send it a little past this real estate and just go ahead and punch into the suckker and tell us what it learns on the way in! I mean, they did it to Jupiter so I'm thinkin' 'Hey, what the hell; let's just do it!?'. If they're talking about photons etc, it would be interesting to actually know why theory holds it that it takes possibly thirty thousand years by one documentary I've watched and yet others say it takes 5 ot 6 figures in years to get out. In any case, if it could survive hanging around the corona, then it can get to the surface. If it can get to the surface it can 'splash' down. If it can splash down and send back usable data, we may even be able to unlock other fission/fusion secrets without bombing hell onto the Earth! It may even assist in finding ways of reconverting solar winds and other sun components into usable and reusable nuclear power for space travel... Sorry I get a little overenthusiastic about getting of the Earth in a much more adventurous way then merely 'going back to the moon'. Been there, done that! Yeah sure, if they reckon we need some sort of 'gas station' between Earth and Mars. I think,though, their scope is too limited... too 'old world'. If they think hard enough...If they look hard enough, they may actually find they can go further, faster, cheaper... All they need to do is just 'think about it for a moment'. Splashing down on the Sun itself will prove that anything is poosible!
If we can slingshot it around the sun and back to the Earth the scientists in 1986 will be overjoyed with the results!