Here is a link to their press conference zoom call. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lme7EjH8uP4 Lots of other good information and images from the probe.
NASA spacecraft ‘touches’ the Sun for the first time ever
11–20 of 89 posts
Re: NASA spacecraft ‘touches’ the Sun for the first time ever
#12From the article: > A NASA spacecraft has entered a previously unexplored region of the Solar System — the Sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona. > The mission’s closest approach is scheduled for 2025 at a distance of just 6.2 million kilometres from the solar surface, well within the orbit of Mercury. From the paper, it looks like the closest approach was > 18.4 solar radii (R⊙ ≡ 6.95 × 10⁵ km) from the center of the Su…
I think the 5 million km figure is just an order-of-magnitude/ballpark estimate, not something precise.
"The corona starts at 10,000 kilometers and extends out to about 10 million kilometers, where the gas finally escapes the sun's gravity and becomes part of the solar wind." [1]
[1] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/i-read-that-the-s...
Re: NASA spacecraft ‘touches’ the Sun for the first time ever
#13From the article: > A NASA spacecraft has entered a previously unexplored region of the Solar System — the Sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona. > The mission’s closest approach is scheduled for 2025 at a distance of just 6.2 million kilometres from the solar surface, well within the orbit of Mercury. From the paper, it looks like the closest approach was > 18.4 solar radii (R⊙ ≡ 6.95 × 10⁵ km) from the center of the Su…
For one, the NASA article says 5 million miles (12 solar radii), not kilometers. So it's actually about 2/3 the quoted number.
Re: NASA spacecraft ‘touches’ the Sun for the first time ever
#14Harvesting "The Golden Apples of the Sun" [1]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Apples_of_the_Sun
Re: NASA spacecraft ‘touches’ the Sun for the first time ever
#15Well done.
And now, Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_the_Controls_for_the_Heart...
Re: NASA spacecraft ‘touches’ the Sun for the first time ever
#16If you’re curious why it won’t melt: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/traveling-to-the-s...
Basically not much heat is transferred because there's not many particles to do the transfer, like a hot oven.
What I didn't understand was the coolant. It's got to dump whatever heat it picks up somewhere? Just a big radiator?
Re: NASA spacecraft ‘touches’ the Sun for the first time ever
#17If you’re curious why it won’t melt: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/traveling-to-the-s...
Basically not much heat is transferred because there's not many particles to do the transfer, like a hot oven. What I didn't understand was the coolant. It's got to dump whatever heat it picks up somewhere? Just a big radiator?
> It's got to dump whatever heat it picks up somewhere? Just a big radiator?
Yes. The absence of any medium in space makes radiating the only way to get rid of heat.
Re: NASA spacecraft ‘touches’ the Sun for the first time ever
#18If you’re curious why it won’t melt: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/traveling-to-the-s...
Basically not much heat is transferred because there's not many particles to do the transfer, like a hot oven. What I didn't understand was the coolant. It's got to dump whatever heat it picks up somewhere? Just a big radiator?
The article puts some numbers on it, as well:
> That means that while Parker Solar Probe will be traveling through a space with temperatures of several million degrees, the surface of the heat shield that faces the Sun will only get heated to about 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit (about 1,400 degrees Celsius).
Re: NASA spacecraft ‘touches’ the Sun for the first time ever
#19Maybe we'll finally find Vulcanoids, asteroids in a stable zone within the orbit of Mercury. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcanoid
Re: NASA spacecraft ‘touches’ the Sun for the first time ever
#20If you’re curious why it won’t melt: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/traveling-to-the-s...
Basically not much heat is transferred because there's not many particles to do the transfer, like a hot oven. What I didn't understand was the coolant. It's got to dump whatever heat it picks up somewhere? Just a big radiator?
The thing about space is, heat transfer is all radiative. The "dark" side of the probe, which is in its own shadow, faces the darkness of space (which is very cold indeed). Therefore you can put insulation on the side facing the sun, and a radiator on the dark side to remove any heat that gets through the insulation.