We’re Getting Closer To The Sun; NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Gets Ready For Launch

NASA’s solar probe that plans to study the Corona – the outermost part of the sun’s atmosphere – of the sun is ready for launch, Financial Express has reported. The United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle will propel the spacecraft to its intended orbit on 11 August. The probe will complete 24 revolutions around the sun before plunging into the Sun’s Corona.

The mission is named after astrophysicist Eugene Parker. This is the first time NASA has named a mission after a living individual. “ The solar probe is going to a region of space that has never been explored before,” the scientist said.

“ This is an historic mission that will revolutionize our understanding of the Sun, where changing conditions can propagate out into the solar system, affecting Earth and other worlds. Parker Solar Probe will travel through the Sun’s atmosphere, closer to the surface than any spacecraft before it, facing brutal heat and radiation conditions — and ultimately providing humanity with the closest-ever observations of a star”, NASA explained the significance of the mission in a statement.

The probe will address two important questions, Space.com has reported. This first is about the Sun’s Corona where temperatures are higher than the star’s surface. The second question is about the solar winds. The hot and fast winds blow charged particles whose source is not known. The mission aims to explore the source of these particles. The mission will also help in understand space weather which affects satellites and earth’s magnetic field.