NASA wants to launch the first mission to the Sun next year, according to the Daily Mail. The space company is going to send a robot to the Sun to analyze the dangerous activity of the Star that could pose a threat to human existence. The probe will fly toward the surface of the Sun, where it will face radiation and extremely high temperatures. Researchers want to send a probe to the Sun's atmosphere to better understand the solar winds and the materials they are transporting in our Solar System.
First mission to the Sun
Eric Christian, a NASA researcher, says that this will be the first mission to fly toward the Sun.
Christian mentioned that they are unable to get to the very surface of the Sun, but the mission is going to get close enough so that the scientists can find the answers to important questions. Experts want to launch this spacecraft toward the sun, so that they will be able to accurately predict the weather in space and how the Earth could be affected.
Solar Probe Plus will be heading toward the Sun in 2018
The launch is planned to start on July 31st, 2018, and will last 20 days. The probe -- called Solar Probe Plus -- is going to orbit 7 times around Venus before reducing the distance that separates it from the Sun. Then, the Solar Probe Plus will perform 24 rotations around the Sun. During the nearest three of them, the probe will reach a distance of only 6.1 million kilometers from the Star's surface.
Scientists have wanted for a long time to launch a probe into the upper atmosphere of the sun to better understand the phenomenon behind the solar wind and stellar material which they are transporting throughout the Solar System.
Extremely high temperatures
To survive during the mission, the probe will have to withstand temperatures up to 1,377 degrees Celsius.
It will be made of a carbon shield of 11.43 cm. After the launch, the vehicle will move directly toward the Sun and it will explore a region of the Solar System that never been reached before by a probe manufactured on Earth.
Important solar event
In a recent study, experts found that a major solar event could cause damage worth two trillion dollars just in the United States.
