NASA Announces Plans for First-Ever Trip to Sun

[n2doc]

By: MEGAN FRIEDMAN
Topics: SPACE, NASA, SCIENCE, SUN, SOLAR PROBE

Solar Probe Plus, solar panels folded into the shadows of its protective shield, gathers data on its approach to the Sun.
JHU/APL

It's a little too hot to send people, but NASA plans to send a spacecraft to the sun by 2018.

As part of their Solar Probe Plus mission, the spacecraft will orbit in the sun's outer atmosphere, constantly sampling the environment and testing for radiation.The main goals are to discover why the sun's atmosphere is hotter than its surface, and what causes "solar winds" that affect the rest of the solar system.

The spacecraft can only go about four million miles away from the sun, but it's the closest NASA has ever gone. Even at that distance, it will have to withstand intense radiation and temperatures over 2550 degrees Fahrenheit .

This expedition will be the first trip to any star, let alone the sun.

http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/09/03/nasa-announces-plans-for-first-ever-trip-to-sun/

http://solarprobe.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.htm

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[ORDagnabbit]

2. they should go at night it'll be cooler then. :P

[Orrex]

4. That's dumb.

They're going to go in the winter, obviously.

[Greg K]

3. "This expedition will be the first trip to any star, let alone the sun." - ya think? nt.

[Codeine]

6. That's the kind of cringe-worthy writing only Time can deliver. nt

[Tesha]

5. It must be intended for a highly eliptical orbit, ....

...dipping in and out of the hot regions
because it certainly couldn't withstand
sustained temperatures of 2550° F.

Tesha

[Swede]

7. I wonder if there's beer on the sun?

[eppur_se_muova]

8. I wish NASA would try to design a "deep penetrator" probe for the Sun ...

to go screaming downward behind a steeply conical ablative shield, lasering data back to a companion orbiter until destruction ... as was done at Jupiter ...

(too late to rec ... darn.)