{"id":15819,"date":"2018-08-12T11:30:18","date_gmt":"2018-08-12T11:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/?p=15819"},"modified":"2020-06-09T12:53:02","modified_gmt":"2020-06-09T12:53:02","slug":"eugene-parker-solar-probe-on-historic-journey-to-touch-sun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/eugene-parker-solar-probe-on-historic-journey-to-touch-sun\/","title":{"rendered":"Eugene Parker Solar Probe on Historic Journey to Touch Sun\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Physicist Eugene Parker watches the launch of the spacecraft that bears his name \u2014 NASA\u2019s Parker Solar Probe \u2014 early in the morning of Aug. 12, 2018. Credits: NASA\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hours before the rise of the very star it will study, NASA\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>Parker Solar Probe<\/a>\u00a0launched from Florida Sunday to begin its journey to the Sun, where it will undertake a landmark mission. The spacecraft will transmit its first science observations in December, beginning a revolution in our understanding of the star that makes life on Earth possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

Roughly the size of a small car, the spacecraft lifted off at 3:31 a.m. EDT on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex-37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. At 5:33 a.m., the mission operations manager reported that the spacecraft was healthy and operating normally.<\/span><\/p>\n

The mission\u2019s findings will help researchers improve their forecasts of space weather events, which have the potential to damage satellites and harm astronauts on orbit, disrupt radio communications and, at their most severe, overwhelm power grids.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis mission truly marks humanity\u2019s first visit to a star that will have implications not just here on Earth, but how we better understand our universe,\u201d said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA\u2019s Science Mission Directorate. \u201cWe\u2019ve accomplished something that decades ago, lived solely in the realm of science fiction.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

During the first week of its journey, the spacecraft will deploy its high-gain antenna and\u00a0magnetometer boom<\/a>. It also will perform the first of a two-part deployment of its electric field antennas. Instrument testing will begin in early September and last approximately four weeks, after which Parker Solar Probe can begin science operations.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s launch was the culmination of six decades of scientific study and millions of hours of effort,\u201d said project manager Andy Driesman, of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. \u201cNow, Parker Solar Probe is operating normally and on its way to begin a seven-year mission of extreme science.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the next two months, Parker Solar Probe will fly towards Venus, performing its first Venus\u00a0gravity assist<\/a>\u00a0in early October \u2013 a maneuver a bit like a handbrake turn \u2013 that whips the spacecraft around the planet, using Venus\u2019s gravity to trim the spacecraft\u2019s orbit tighter around the Sun. This first flyby will place Parker Solar Probe in position in early November to fly as close as 15 million miles from the Sun \u2013 within the blazing solar atmosphere, known as the corona \u2013 closer than anything made by humanity has ever gone before.<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout its seven-year mission, Parker Solar Probe will make six more Venus flybys and 24 total passes by the Sun, journeying steadily closer to the Sun until it makes its closest approach at 3.8 million miles. At this point, the probe will be moving at roughly 430,000 miles per hour, setting the record for the fastest-moving object made by humanity.<\/span><\/p>\n

Parker Solar Probe will set its sights on the corona to solve long-standing, foundational mysteries of our Sun. What is the\u00a0secret of the scorching corona<\/a>, which is more than 300 times hotter than the Sun\u2019s surface, thousands of miles below? What drives\u00a0the supersonic solar wind<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 the constant stream of solar material that blows through the entire solar system? And finally, what accelerates solar energetic particles, which can reach speeds up to more than half the speed of light as they rocket away from the Sun?<\/span><\/p>\n

Scientists have sought these answers for more than 60 years, but the investigation requires sending a probe right through the unrelenting heat of the corona. Today, this is finally possible with cutting-edge\u00a0thermal engineering advances<\/a>\u00a0that can protect the mission on its daring journey.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cExploring the Sun\u2019s corona with a spacecraft has been one of the hardest challenges for space exploration,\u201d said Nicola Fox, project scientist at APL. \u201cWe\u2019re finally going to be able to answer questions about the corona and solar wind raised by Gene Parker in 1958 \u2013 using a spacecraft that bears his name \u2013 and I can\u2019t wait to find out what discoveries we make. The science will be remarkable.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Parker Solar Probe carries four instrument suites designed to study magnetic fields, plasma and energetic particles, and capture images of the solar wind. The University of California, Berkeley, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and Princeton University in New Jersey lead these investigations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Parker Solar Probe is part of NASA\u2019s Living with a Star program to explore aspects of the Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. The Living with a Star program is managed by the agency\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA\u2019s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. APL designed and built, and operates the spacecraft.<\/span><\/p>\n

A plaque dedicating the mission to Parker was attached to the spacecraft in May. It includes a quote from the renowned physicist \u2013 \u201cLet\u2019s see what lies ahead.\u201d It also holds a memory card containing more than 1.1 million names submitted by the public to travel with the spacecraft to the Sun.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hours before the rise of the very star it will study, NASA\u2019s\u00a0Parker Solar Probe\u00a0launched from Florida Sunday to begin its journey to the Sun, where it will undertake a landmark mission. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15820,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-space-news"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/u-parker.jpg",1024,768,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/u-parker-200x200.jpg",200,200,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/u-parker-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/u-parker-768x576.jpg",750,563,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/u-parker-1024x768.jpg",750,563,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/u-parker.jpg",1024,768,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/u-parker.jpg",1024,768,false],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/u-parker.jpg",1024,768,false],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/u-parker.jpg",760,570,false],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/u-parker.jpg",600,450,false],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/u-parker.jpg",600,450,false],"newspaper-x-single-post":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/u-parker.jpg",653,490,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-big":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/u-parker.jpg",480,360,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-list-image":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/u-parker.jpg",87,65,false],"web-stories-poster-portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/u-parker.jpg",640,480,false],"web-stories-publisher-logo":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/u-parker.jpg",96,72,false],"web-stories-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/u-parker.jpg",150,113,false]},"author_info":{"info":["RevoScience"]},"category_info":"Space\/ AstroPhysics<\/a>","tag_info":"Space\/ AstroPhysics","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}