Science: NASA to launch Man’s first ever mission to ‘touch’ Sun in July

Srinagar: Humanity’s first mission to the Sun, Parker Solar Probe, has begun final preparations for its launch in July, NASA said in a statement for Media.

According to statement issued on April 6 mission to sun will be launched from Launch Complex-37 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre, Florida and the two-hour launch window will open at 4am on July 31, and will be repeated each day (at slightly earlier times) through August 19, The statement by the space agency said.

Read full NASA statement here: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/nasa-s-mission-to-touch-the-sun-arrives-in-the-sunshine-state

“Parker Solar Probe is humanity’s first mission to the Sun. After launch, it will orbit directly through the solar atmosphere – the corona – closer to the surface than any human-made object has ever gone. While facing brutal heat and radiation, the mission will reveal fundamental science behind what drives the solar wind, the constant outpouring of material from the Sun that shapes planetary atmospheres and affects space weather near Earth,” it reads

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe will be the first-ever mission to “touch” the Sun. The spacecraft, about the size of a small car, will travel directly into the Sun’s atmosphere about 4 million miles from our star’s surface, says NASA website.

“There are many milestones to come for Parker Solar Probe and the amazing team of men and women who have worked so diligently to make this mission a reality,” said Andy Driesman, Parker Solar Probe project manager from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. “The installation of the TPS will be our final major step before encapsulation and integration onto the launch vehicle.”.

The statement says that Throughout its seven-year mission, Parker Solar Probe will explore the Sun’s outer atmosphere and make critical observations to answer decades-old questions about the physics of stars. Its data will also be useful in improving forecasts of major eruptions on the Sun and the subsequent space weather events that impact technology on Earth, as well as satellites and astronauts in space. The mission is named for University of Chicago Professor Emeritus Eugene N. Parker, whose profound insights into solar physics and processes have guided the discipline. It is the first NASA mission named for a living individual.