A year from now, on 24 December, Nasa’s Parker Solar Probe will race past the Sun at the astonishing speed of 195 km/s, or 435,000 mph.
This is equivalent to the Moon landing of 1969," the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory scientist told BBC News.
It’s also within the corona region that the outward flow of charged particles - electrons, protons and heavy ions - suddenly gets accelerated into a supersonic wind moving at 400 km/s, or 1,000,000 mph.
“This takes on a new dimension, especially now that we’re thinking of sending women and men back to the Moon and even setting up a permanent presence on the lunar surface,” Dr Raouafi said.
The coming year will be the apex of Parker’s mission; it won’t be able to get any closer to the Sun beyond December, not least because its orbit will no longer afford swingbys of Venus to train its trajectory onto an even tighter path.
But to go any closer would also risk shortening the shadow cast by Parker’s big shield, exposing the rear of the spacecraft to intolerable temperatures.
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A year from now, on 24 December, Nasa’s Parker Solar Probe will race past the Sun at the astonishing speed of 195 km/s, or 435,000 mph.
This is equivalent to the Moon landing of 1969," the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory scientist told BBC News.
It’s also within the corona region that the outward flow of charged particles - electrons, protons and heavy ions - suddenly gets accelerated into a supersonic wind moving at 400 km/s, or 1,000,000 mph.
“This takes on a new dimension, especially now that we’re thinking of sending women and men back to the Moon and even setting up a permanent presence on the lunar surface,” Dr Raouafi said.
The coming year will be the apex of Parker’s mission; it won’t be able to get any closer to the Sun beyond December, not least because its orbit will no longer afford swingbys of Venus to train its trajectory onto an even tighter path.
But to go any closer would also risk shortening the shadow cast by Parker’s big shield, exposing the rear of the spacecraft to intolerable temperatures.
The original article contains 673 words, the summary contains 183 words. Saved 73%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!