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(.#478).- Parker Solar Probe: first light for the probe that will graze the Sun.
Parker Solar Probe: first light for the probe that will graze the Sun.
Article by Xavier Demeersman
Published on September 25, 2018
Archives
Less than a month after its launch, Parker Solar Probe acquired its first data, including images with its beautiful suite of instruments. The space probe responsible for unraveling the mysteries of the Sun continues on its way to our star, via Venus.
On their way to the Sun - or rather, all the same, its suburb, 24 million kilometers away, initially, in November -, Parker Solar Probe has just opened its eyes. All its senses, so to speak, have been awakened by its operators in order, first, to verify that everything is working, and of course to calibrate them. The approach will be gradual. At the end of its mission, the probe will complete its work just 6.1 million kilometers from the center of the sun.
The whole team is relieved. "All the instruments have returned data, which will be used for calibration but also to give glimpses of what we expect from them near the Sun in order to solve the mysteries of the solar atmosphere, the solar corona" rejoiced one of the mission's researchers, Nour Raouafi, from JHUAPL.
These two images were acquired by Wispr. The left part by the external telescope and the right part, the internal telescope. © Nasa, University of Michigan, Parker Solar Probe
The first measurements of Solar Probe
Thus the Wispr (Wide-field Imager for Solar Probe) double telescope, located behind the heat shield which protects the probe and its instruments) from sun burns, got its first light in early September. The door that protected him during takeoff opened well and the check-in proceeded as planned.
On this first image (image in One) bringing together the shots of the internal and external cameras of Wispr, we can easily distinguish the silver strip of the Milky Way. And at the junction of the two images, we recognize Antares, the brightest star in Scorpio. As for the large bright point on the right image, it is our Jupiter. The Sun is out of scope. The eagerly awaited observations of the solar corona will come in a few weeks.
The other sets of instruments, ISʘIS (Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun), Fields and Sweap (Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons) made their first measurements of magnetic and electric fields, high energy particles, solar wind, etc. ., with success. This therefore promises great harvests of information about the star around which we live.
Parker Solar Probe: everything you need to know about the probe that comes close to the Sun
Article by Jean-Luc Goudet
Published on August 19, 2018
Archives
The Parker Solar Probe probe is on its way to the Sun after a successful launch. She will approach our star to study the "crown", a little-known atmosphere from which the solar wind discovered by ... Eugene Parker, who attended the departure, escapes. Find here our articles dedicated to this seven-year mission.
With a little delay, Sunday August 12 at 3:31 a.m. Florida local time (9:31 a.m. Paris time), NASA's Parker Solar Probe probe left Cape Canaveral aboard a Delta IV launcher in "Heavy" version, with a first stage with three motors. In two months, at the beginning of October, it will reach Venus, for a first gravitational assistance which will send it on an elliptical orbit around the Sun making it approach the Sun at the beginning of November at 24 million kilometers.
During the seven years of the mission to study the solar corona, there will be six overflights of Venus and 24 approximations of the surface of the Sun. As close as possible (the point called perihelion), during the last three overflights, the small machine of 685 kg will be 6.1 million kilometers from the center of our star, whose radius is about 700,000 kilometers.
VIDEO :
NASA's Parker Solar Probe Mission Launches to Touch the Sun
On August 13, 2018, a Delta IV launcher in a powerful version, recognizable by the three RS-68 propellants with liquid propellants (hydrogen and oxygen) constituting the first stage, carried the Parker Solar Probe probe, weighing only 685 kg. © Nasa
Parker Solar Probe, the fastest probe of all time
Mission specialists (see the article by JHUAPL) count moreover, rather than in kilometers (or, worse, in miles), in "Rs", therefore in number of times the solar ray, or in AU (Astronomical units), knowing that the Earth is at 1 AU (approximately 149 million kilometers). At perihelion, Parker Solar Probe will graze the Sun at 9.86 Rs, or 0.044 AU. The farther away (aphelion), the probe will travel at 0.75 AU. The final orbit, of 88 days, will only be reached after the seventh overflight of Venus. At each of them, the planet will slow down the probe. At this time, the craft will pass aphelion and this drop in speed will shorten the orbit, so that the next perihelion will be a little closer to the Sun.
Along these highly elliptical orbits, the speed of the probe will vary greatly. Parker Solar Probe will accelerate when it approaches the Sun and slow when it moves away from it. (Like any body orbiting another. Thanks to Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton for discovering this and explaining it, respectively.) According to NASA, the highest speed (compared to Sun) will be 692,000 km / h, or 192 km / s, which will make it smash the record for a spacecraft, held until now, equally, by Helios I and II, with 70.22 km / s. Carried out jointly by the German Space Agency and NASA, they had reached a heliocentric speed (relative to the Sun) of 252,792 km / h, or 70.22 km / s.
Astrophysicist Eugene N. Parker, who discovered the solar wind, is present at the launch of the probe that bears his name. © Nasa
The mission was renamed after astrophysicist Eugene Parker, 89, professor emeritus of the University of Chicago (see NASA press release). He published in 1958 the first research predicting the ejection of matter by the Sun (and other stars), with sufficient speed and intensity to affect the planets. This is what we call the solar wind. He also gave an explanation for the fact that the solar corona is warmer than the surface of the Sun, which will be studied by this NASA probe.
"This is the first time that NASA has given the name of a living person to a spacecraft," said Thomas Zurbuchen, deputy administrator of the Space Agency for scientific missions. It is a testament to the importance of his work which founded a new field of scientific research and also inspired my research and many important questions that NASA continues to study and better understand every day. "
Like Parker Solar Probe, they went towards the Sun and the gravity of our star is therefore the main contributor to this velocity. On Earth, just drop an apple and its speed increases by 36 km / h every second. Therefore, this feat does not erase the meritorious effort of New Horizons, a small probe launched outside the Solar System (note that currently, after his visit to Pluto in 2015, it arrives on its second objective, Ultima Thule, in the Kuiper belt). In 2006, it had left the suburbs at 45 km / s: in this case, it is as if, on Earth, an apple was thrown very hard.
So close to the Sun, the temperature will reach 1,400 ° C and a carbon shield will prevent the probe from being destroyed. Find below the articles that we have devoted to this very particular spacecraft and its mission, which is also remarkable.
F I N .
Parker Solar Probe: first light for the probe that will graze the Sun.
Article by Xavier Demeersman
Published on September 25, 2018
Archives
Less than a month after its launch, Parker Solar Probe acquired its first data, including images with its beautiful suite of instruments. The space probe responsible for unraveling the mysteries of the Sun continues on its way to our star, via Venus.
On their way to the Sun - or rather, all the same, its suburb, 24 million kilometers away, initially, in November -, Parker Solar Probe has just opened its eyes. All its senses, so to speak, have been awakened by its operators in order, first, to verify that everything is working, and of course to calibrate them. The approach will be gradual. At the end of its mission, the probe will complete its work just 6.1 million kilometers from the center of the sun.
The whole team is relieved. "All the instruments have returned data, which will be used for calibration but also to give glimpses of what we expect from them near the Sun in order to solve the mysteries of the solar atmosphere, the solar corona" rejoiced one of the mission's researchers, Nour Raouafi, from JHUAPL.
These two images were acquired by Wispr. The left part by the external telescope and the right part, the internal telescope. © Nasa, University of Michigan, Parker Solar Probe
The first measurements of Solar Probe
Thus the Wispr (Wide-field Imager for Solar Probe) double telescope, located behind the heat shield which protects the probe and its instruments) from sun burns, got its first light in early September. The door that protected him during takeoff opened well and the check-in proceeded as planned.
On this first image (image in One) bringing together the shots of the internal and external cameras of Wispr, we can easily distinguish the silver strip of the Milky Way. And at the junction of the two images, we recognize Antares, the brightest star in Scorpio. As for the large bright point on the right image, it is our Jupiter. The Sun is out of scope. The eagerly awaited observations of the solar corona will come in a few weeks.
The other sets of instruments, ISʘIS (Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun), Fields and Sweap (Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons) made their first measurements of magnetic and electric fields, high energy particles, solar wind, etc. ., with success. This therefore promises great harvests of information about the star around which we live.
Parker Solar Probe: everything you need to know about the probe that comes close to the Sun
Article by Jean-Luc Goudet
Published on August 19, 2018
Archives
The Parker Solar Probe probe is on its way to the Sun after a successful launch. She will approach our star to study the "crown", a little-known atmosphere from which the solar wind discovered by ... Eugene Parker, who attended the departure, escapes. Find here our articles dedicated to this seven-year mission.
With a little delay, Sunday August 12 at 3:31 a.m. Florida local time (9:31 a.m. Paris time), NASA's Parker Solar Probe probe left Cape Canaveral aboard a Delta IV launcher in "Heavy" version, with a first stage with three motors. In two months, at the beginning of October, it will reach Venus, for a first gravitational assistance which will send it on an elliptical orbit around the Sun making it approach the Sun at the beginning of November at 24 million kilometers.
During the seven years of the mission to study the solar corona, there will be six overflights of Venus and 24 approximations of the surface of the Sun. As close as possible (the point called perihelion), during the last three overflights, the small machine of 685 kg will be 6.1 million kilometers from the center of our star, whose radius is about 700,000 kilometers.
VIDEO :
NASA's Parker Solar Probe Mission Launches to Touch the Sun
On August 13, 2018, a Delta IV launcher in a powerful version, recognizable by the three RS-68 propellants with liquid propellants (hydrogen and oxygen) constituting the first stage, carried the Parker Solar Probe probe, weighing only 685 kg. © Nasa
Parker Solar Probe, the fastest probe of all time
Mission specialists (see the article by JHUAPL) count moreover, rather than in kilometers (or, worse, in miles), in "Rs", therefore in number of times the solar ray, or in AU (Astronomical units), knowing that the Earth is at 1 AU (approximately 149 million kilometers). At perihelion, Parker Solar Probe will graze the Sun at 9.86 Rs, or 0.044 AU. The farther away (aphelion), the probe will travel at 0.75 AU. The final orbit, of 88 days, will only be reached after the seventh overflight of Venus. At each of them, the planet will slow down the probe. At this time, the craft will pass aphelion and this drop in speed will shorten the orbit, so that the next perihelion will be a little closer to the Sun.
Along these highly elliptical orbits, the speed of the probe will vary greatly. Parker Solar Probe will accelerate when it approaches the Sun and slow when it moves away from it. (Like any body orbiting another. Thanks to Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton for discovering this and explaining it, respectively.) According to NASA, the highest speed (compared to Sun) will be 692,000 km / h, or 192 km / s, which will make it smash the record for a spacecraft, held until now, equally, by Helios I and II, with 70.22 km / s. Carried out jointly by the German Space Agency and NASA, they had reached a heliocentric speed (relative to the Sun) of 252,792 km / h, or 70.22 km / s.
Astrophysicist Eugene N. Parker, who discovered the solar wind, is present at the launch of the probe that bears his name. © Nasa
The mission was renamed after astrophysicist Eugene Parker, 89, professor emeritus of the University of Chicago (see NASA press release). He published in 1958 the first research predicting the ejection of matter by the Sun (and other stars), with sufficient speed and intensity to affect the planets. This is what we call the solar wind. He also gave an explanation for the fact that the solar corona is warmer than the surface of the Sun, which will be studied by this NASA probe.
"This is the first time that NASA has given the name of a living person to a spacecraft," said Thomas Zurbuchen, deputy administrator of the Space Agency for scientific missions. It is a testament to the importance of his work which founded a new field of scientific research and also inspired my research and many important questions that NASA continues to study and better understand every day. "
Like Parker Solar Probe, they went towards the Sun and the gravity of our star is therefore the main contributor to this velocity. On Earth, just drop an apple and its speed increases by 36 km / h every second. Therefore, this feat does not erase the meritorious effort of New Horizons, a small probe launched outside the Solar System (note that currently, after his visit to Pluto in 2015, it arrives on its second objective, Ultima Thule, in the Kuiper belt). In 2006, it had left the suburbs at 45 km / s: in this case, it is as if, on Earth, an apple was thrown very hard.
So close to the Sun, the temperature will reach 1,400 ° C and a carbon shield will prevent the probe from being destroyed. Find below the articles that we have devoted to this very particular spacecraft and its mission, which is also remarkable.
F I N .
