NASA gives sneak peek of its bold mission 'to touch the sun

NASA is going to send a spacecraft through the corona and take info and send it back to Earth. One thing they will try to solve is why the corona is hotter than the surface of the sun.

This latest spacecraft is being prepared to make an unprecedented plunge into the sun's atmosphere.

"We're going to go into the corona, which is the home to many mysteries that have baffled scientists for decades and decades," explained project scientist Nicky Fox at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab.

www.mirror.co.uk...

I am wondering how they will harden the electronics to keep them safe from surges and radiation. Plus the story says the craft will be hit with supersonic particles. At 1,500,000,000 dollars, I hope it works.

The spacecraft will have to survive temperatures as high as 2,500 Fahrenheit (1,371 Celsius), impacts by supersonic particles and powerful radiation as it circles as close as 4 million miles (7 million km) to the sun.

The craft will go around the sun 24 times getting closer every revolution, wonder if they will crash it into the sun?

The spacecraft, designed and built by the Johns Hopkins University laboratory, will fly around Venus seven times to get itself into orbit around the sun in December 2024. NASA is paying about $1.5 billion to build and launch the spacecraft.

The probe is expected to orbit the sun 24 times, edging closer on each pass.

I am wondering how they will harden the electronics to keep them safe from surges and radiation.

That's a good question.

Hopefully whatever they come up with will then be used to get some machines into fukashima.

Creating new technology is why we need nasa. It's a lot better than relying on wartime to come up with the new tech.

a reply to: scraedtosleep

Think the sun would make Fuka look like a sunny (no pun) day as far as radiation goes.

And yes, Nasa is a much better option as far as development goes compared to war. Although NASA and the military are really really friendly.

originally posted by: scraedtosleep

I am wondering how they will harden the electronics to keep them safe from surges and radiation.

That's a good question.

Hopefully whatever they come up with will then be used to get some machines into fukashima.

Creating new technology is why we need nasa. It's a lot better than relying on wartime to come up with the new tech.

I guess they could use a magnetic field in much the same way as Earth has. Otherwise they are going to need dozens of meters of lead. Maybe using solar panels as additional shielding and energy generation

a reply to: stormcell

Considering the very low melting point of lead, that might be a poor choice.

originally posted by: stormcell

originally posted by: scraedtosleep

I am wondering how they will harden the electronics to keep them safe from surges and radiation.

That's a good question.

Hopefully whatever they come up with will then be used to get some machines into fukashima.

Creating new technology is why we need nasa. It's a lot better than relying on wartime to come up with the new tech.

I guess they could use a magnetic field in much the same way as Earth has. Otherwise they are going to need dozens of meters of lead. Maybe using solar panels as additional shielding and energy generation

No that would cause more damage to the electronics then the radiation.

a reply to: stormcell

Hopefully they come up with a resistant light weight material we have never seen before.

a reply to: dragonridr

Thank goodness NASA has all those rocket scientists. They will have to come up with some new snazzy tech to solve this.
Unless it is already solved.

a reply to: seasonal

Here you go

To perform these unprecedented investigations, the spacecraft and instruments will be protected from the Sun’s heat by a 4.5-inch-thick (11.43 cm) carbon-composite shield, which will need to withstand temperatures outside the spacecraft that reach nearly 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,377 degrees Celsius).

Sounds quite exciting. Would love to see what the thingamajig sends back to us.

Though, reading the scorching temperatures it is being designed to survive in its Sol-atmosphere plunge, I'm hoping/wishing that NASA would do what the Russians did in the 70's and 80's and do a lander mission to Venus soon as well... THAT would really get me excited...

With all of the spectroscopy and infra-red/ultra-violet analysis we do on the corona from both Earth and spacecraft, what are the real new innovations that could be had to visit it? All for the science, but at $1.5b, would there be more important endeavors that would have a higher bang per buck?

originally posted by: Havoc40k
Sounds quite exciting. Would love to see what the thingamajig sends back to us.

Though, reading the scorching temperatures it is being designed to survive in its Sol-atmosphere plunge, I'm hoping/wishing that NASA would do what the Russians did in the 70's and 80's and do a lander mission to Venus soon as well... THAT would really get me excited...

I've long wondered what kind of data we'd need from Venus ton reverse the greenhouse effect there. It might be a perfect planet to experiment on.

originally posted by: charlyv
With all of the spectroscopy and infra-red/ultra-violet analysis we do on the corona from both Earth and spacecraft, what are the real new innovations that could be had to visit it? All for the science, but at $1.5b, would there be more important endeavors that would have a higher bang per buck?

I can understand this side of the conversation. Even more puzzling is that it is likely they will have ran many many virtual tests and scenarios and will be simply "confirming" the majority of data they theorize to find.

But, that's science. Ultimately, I think the engineering to get there is more exciting than the science.

originally posted by: Havoc40k
Sounds quite exciting. Would love to see what the thingamajig sends back to us.

Sounds like a bad idea. There must be some sort of life forms in or next to the sun with that amount of radiation. Is it wise to poke s sleeping bear?

originally posted by: Tempter

originally posted by: charlyv
With all of the spectroscopy and infra-red/ultra-violet analysis we do on the corona from both Earth and spacecraft, what are the real new innovations that could be had to visit it? All for the science, but at $1.5b, would there be more important endeavors that would have a higher bang per buck?

I can understand this side of the conversation. Even more puzzling is that it is likely they will have ran many many virtual tests and scenarios and will be simply "confirming" the majority of data they theorize to find.

But, that's science. Ultimately, I think the engineering to get there is more exciting than the science.

That's cool as well. The engineering will be spectacular. I guess we can just invoke the ATS solution to the unknown, Just poke it with a stick, first.

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: dragonridr

Thank goodness NASA has all those rocket scientists. They will have to come up with some new snazzy tech to solve this.
Unless it is already solved.

It was we used it on the shuttle for rentry. No matter how much heat you put into them they don't transfer the heat.

youtu.be...

a reply to: seasonal

Uh, posted several times now on ATS.

Search for carbon foam.

I always wondered why they warn us that sun could blast out our electronics here on earth but have technology that can penetrate the sun's corona?

Gives me the feeling that there's some kind of Al Gore effect to find new expensive bugets to update sensitive electronics or creating new expensive electronics payed from the taxpayers so they can always shift the money to another dubious project?

Takes a lot of tequila flavored beer to understand or even comprehend why suddenly things like flying through this inferno of flames and manage to take photos or measurements how the sun works from upclose?

Anyway I always wanting to see the sun that close so I'm very curious how they manage to do that,
with a bit of aluminum foil and solar panels protecting the ship..?

originally posted by: scraedtosleep

I am wondering how they will harden the electronics to keep them safe from surges and radiation.

That's a good question.

Hopefully whatever they come up with will then be used to get some machines into fukashima.

Creating new technology is why we need nasa. It's a lot better than relying on wartime to come up with the new tech.

good question indeed.

As far as I'm informed...one of the greater challanges of going back to the Moon is apparently...shielding electronics from space radiation. Apparently...todays electronics are far more susceptible to space radiation then the electronics from 60's.

So...going straight for the Sun...seems to my untrained brain...an even greater challenge.

Creating new technology is why we need nasa. It's a lot better than relying on wartime to come up with the new tech.

you mean like the "impossible drive" ?

If we relied on NASA on that one...it would remain truly "impossible".

a reply to: 0bserver1

with a bit of aluminum foil and solar panels protecting the ship..?

here we go

It's not just aluminum foil...there was scotch tape as well