Monday 13 August 2018

Watch NASA Launch Its Sun-Skimming Parker Solar Probe.


The Parker Solar Probe blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Sunday, setting itself on course to become both the fastest human craft ever launched (in the neighbourhood of 430,000 miles per hour) and the first to probe the outer corona of the sun.

Per the BBC, NASA has since confirmed the probe successfully separated from its rocket and is proceeding on its mission as intended.

The $1.5 billion Parker probe will pass by the sun as close as 3.83 million miles from its visible surface, the photosphere – a number that sounds large in absolute terms but is nonetheless close enough to the star to expose it to temperatures of nearly 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,377 degrees Celsius). According to NASA, the spacecraft is protected from solar radiation by a 4.5-inch-thick carbon-composite shield, which despite weighing just 160 pounds should allow onboard instruments to operate at room temperature even during the most intense parts of its journey.



By Tom MacKay.
Full story at Gizmodo.



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