Parker Solar Probe : Touch The Sun

Hey friends,
Today we learn a interesting topic 'Parker Solar Probe : Touch the Sun'. In this topic we trying to understand following headings.

1. What is 'Parker Solar Probe' (PSP)?
2. How it work?
3. Instruments used in PSP?
4. Scientific goals behind this mission
5. Approaching Records

What is 'Parker Solar Probe' (PSP)

   NASA recently launch a spacecraft named 'Parker Solar Probe'.

• Launching Date - 12 Aug 2018, 7:31 (GMT)
• lunching Site - Cape Canaveral SLC-31
• Launching Vehicle - Delta IV - Heavy with upper stage

Parker Solar Probe is a NASA's robotic spacecraft. Which were previously named Solar Probe (2002), Solar Probe Plus (2010-2017).Finally it named Parker Solar Probe from the name of american scientists Eugene Parker astronomy professor in University of Chicago, Who first discovered the concept of 'Solar Wind' in 1950s.

parker solar probe

• PSP spacecraft is a part of NASA's 'Living with A Star' program. The John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory built this spacecraft and will also operate it. There is a memory card installed in this spacecraft which contains 1.1 millions people names and also contains the photos of Parker and copies of important documents.

How it will work 

   Parker Solar Probe is a 7 years (6 years 321 days) mission.Parker will face extreme high solar radiation approx 650 KW/m² (means 1377°C) at perihelion. Spacecraft system will protect by a solar shield, this is a hexagonal plate with 2.3 m in diameter and 4.5 inch (11.43 cm) thick of reinforced carbon-carbon composite. Its also contain a white reflection alumina surface layer to minimize solar absorption.

parker solar probe : touching the sun

While it will take 8 minutes to communicate with earth. Its a fully advanced autonomous spacecraft says by Nicky Fox a project scientist.
   Parker will follow flowing trajectory. In which it moves 24 orbits around the sun. In last 3 orbits its moves to within 3.8 million miles from sun and fly through the birth place of highest energy solar particles. Which is seven time closer than last record.

trajectory of parker solar probe 

 It will break all the past record and become fastest moving object in space that ever made by human, its move with 4,30,000 m/h (7,00000 Km/h) speed.

Instruments used in PSP and their uses

   There are some advanced high-tech instruments used in parker which make it a fully advanced spacecraft. Some are given blow in detail.

instruments of parker solar probe

• Solar Probe Analyser (SPAN) and Solar Probe Cup (SPC or Faraday Cup) used to investigate the properties of electron, proton, and alpha particles such as density, temperature, velocity etc.
• Flux-gate magnetometer and Plasma Voltage Sensor used to measure electric and magnetic field, radio waves, electron temperature, poynting flux, and absolute plasma density.
• EPI-Hi and EPI-Lo used to measure electron proton and heavy particles.
• Wide field imager used to take images of corona and inner heliosphere.

instruments of parker solar probe

Scientific goals of Parker

   Behind this mission there are some important scientific goals as follow.

• Finding the energy that heats the outer surface of sun (corona) and generate the solar wind.
• To detect how to accelerate and move energetic particle.
• Define the structure of magnetic field at the source of solar wind.