NASA Plans to Visit the Sun
Sep 3, 2010 Technology
If youve seen Danny Boyles movie Sunshine, you may be a little disappointed: NASAs mission to visit the Earths Sun wont include sending people up there. But it will be sending a spacecraft into the Suns atmosphere, approximately four million miles from its surface. The project, called Solar Probe Plus, is slated to launch sometime before 2018.Four million miles doesnt sound very close, but its still very exciting, since this is a region no other spacecraft (created by us) has ever encountered. NASA plans for the project to unlock the suns biggest mysteries.Although the spacecraft will be relatively far from our stars surface, its carbon-composite heat shield will have to withstand intense radiation, as well as temperatures exceeding 2550 degrees Fahrenheit.The experiments selected for Solar Probe Plus are specifically designed to solve two key questions of solar physics why is the suns outer atmosphere so much hotter than the suns visible surface and what propels the solar wind that affects Earth and our solar system? said Dick Fisher, director of NASAs Heliophysics Division in Washington.Weve been struggling with these questions for decades and this mission should finally provide those answers, said Fisher.[Image credit: NASA]More About: mission, NASA, space, spacecraft, sun, SunshineFor more Tech coverage:Follow Mashable Tech on TwitterBecome a Fan on FacebookSubscribe to the Tech channelDownload our free apps for iPhone and iPad