Parker Solar Probe Survives its First Pass Around the Sun

AlphaAtlas

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The Parker Solar Probe left Earth and started barreling towards the Sun back in August, and NASA reports that it just recently survived its first close encounter with the Sun. The spacecraft came within 15 million miles of its surface, smashing the previous record of f 26.55 million miles set in 1976. It also broke the spacecraft speed record, reaching a top speed of 213,200mph at the closest approach, and the heat shield reached a temperature of 820 degree Fahrenheit. These records will be repeatedly smashed as it spirals closer to our star, transmitting valuable data after each pass.

Check out a video of the probe's progress here.

This temperature will climb up to 2,500 F as the spacecraft makes closer approaches to the Sun but all the while, the spacecraft instruments and systems that are protected by the heat shield are generally kept in the mid-80s F. Parker Solar Probe's first solar encounter phase began on Oct. 31, and the spacecraft will continue collecting science data through the end of the solar encounter phase on Nov. 11. It will be several weeks after the end of the solar encounter phase before the science data begins downlinking to Earth.
 
To be serious, I think this is a pretty neat experiment; I fully expect this to go "Poof" at some point.

There's a region just above the suns surface where the temperature goes to ~20million degrees; as long as there's nothing to conduct that heat behind the heatshield, it should be fine, the HS is some tough stuff.

BUT; if there is just a bit of gas there, this will go up like a moth in a blowtorch. :)

Either way: SCIENCE!! :)

I don't understand why they designed it to store and transmit data, tho; If they're wrong a little bit, they'll never see that data.
I'd be continually transmitting at least part of it.
 
To be serious, I think this is a pretty neat experiment; I fully expect this to go "Poof" at some point.

There's a region just above the suns surface where the temperature goes to ~20million degrees; as long as there's nothing to conduct that heat behind the heatshield, it should be fine, the HS is some tough stuff.

BUT; if there is just a bit of gas there, this will go up like a moth in a blowtorch. :)

Either way: SCIENCE!! :)

I don't understand why they designed it to store and transmit data, tho; If they're wrong a little bit, they'll never see that data.
I'd be continually transmitting at least part of it.

Nah... the Corona is not that hot if that what you're referring too.

And even at that the density of high energy particles is so low. You would get more heat from the radiant light output of just the general sun than the thermal weirdness of the Corona.

Unless you speak of something else.

The core where the mass equivalent of Everest is fused ever y second approaches 26m C give or take. The Corona is a few million but not 20.
 
"transmitting valuable data"

like...

SUN IS HOT

Watch out Earth, incoming solar flare that will destroy the planet that you can do nothing about

That's not a sun.... it's a space station!

The Sun just told me how we can all work from home making 100k a year! Click here to find out how!

etc
 
To be serious, I think this is a pretty neat experiment; I fully expect this to go "Poof" at some point.

There's a region just above the suns surface where the temperature goes to ~20million degrees; as long as there's nothing to conduct that heat behind the heatshield, it should be fine, the HS is some tough stuff.

BUT; if there is just a bit of gas there, this will go up like a moth in a blowtorch. :)

Either way: SCIENCE!! :)

I don't understand why they designed it to store and transmit data, tho; If they're wrong a little bit, they'll never see that data.
I'd be continually transmitting at least part of it.

They mentioned that in the video; the EMI from the sun washes out radio signals so complex transmissions are a no-go.
 
im not sure they mentioned the name of the craft enough times in the video.. hehehe
 
im not sure they mentioned the name of the craft enough times in the video.. hehehe
1234895851-cartoon-jameson-2135.jpg
 
Nah... the Corona is not that hot if that what you're referring too.

...

The core where the mass equivalent of Everest is fused ever y second approaches 26m C give or take. The Corona is a few million but not 20.


"Temperatures rise dramatically in the corona, which can also only be seen during an eclipse as plasma streams outward like points on a crown. The corona can get surprisingly hot, comparable to the body of the sun. Temperatures range from 1.7 million degrees F (1 million degrees C) to more than 17 million F (10 million C), according to the NSO."
 
Nice
213,200 MPH
Fastest thing ever built by man.
0.000318c
I am occasionally reminded in a real way that the speed of light is fuckin fast
Reminds me of Bill Bryson writing "Based on what we know, there is absolutely no prospect that any human will ever leave our solar system" in his book 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' (by solar system he means the Oort Cloud)

Space is big, we travel slow. Them's the rules.

Another favorite from the book, “A manned mission to Mars, called for by the first President Bush in a moment of passing giddiness, was quietly dropped when someone worked out that it would cost $450 billion and probably result in the deaths of all the crew (their DNA torn to tatters by high-energy solar particles from which they could not be shielded).”
 
Fascinating stuff. Impressive that the heat shield can keep the components in the 80F range with the incredible heat levels.
 
"transmitting valuable data"

like...

SUN IS HOT

Watch out Earth, incoming solar flare that will destroy the planet that you can do nothing about

That's not a sun.... it's a space station!

The Sun just told me how we can all work from home making 100k a year! Click here to find out how!

etc
If you are referring to a CME then we could actually do something if detected early. If the size is like the one in 1859? then we could possibly shutdown the electrical grid I believe.
 
Reminds me of Bill Bryson writing "Based on what we know, there is absolutely no prospect that any human will ever leave our solar system" in his book 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' (by solar system he means the Oort Cloud)

Space is big, we travel slow. Them's the rules.

Another favorite from the book, “A manned mission to Mars, called for by the first President Bush in a moment of passing giddiness, was quietly dropped when someone worked out that it would cost $450 billion and probably result in the deaths of all the crew (their DNA torn to tatters by high-energy solar particles from which they could not be shielded).”



I love that book. I have no clue why more people haven't read it.
 
"Temperatures rise dramatically in the corona, which can also only be seen during an eclipse as plasma streams outward like points on a crown. The corona can get surprisingly hot, comparable to the body of the sun. Temperatures range from 1.7 million degrees F (1 million degrees C) to more than 17 million F (10 million C), according to the NSO."

Must be more recent research then. As far as I've always been aware of it was several.million not 20.
 
Fascinating stuff. Impressive that the heat shield can keep the components in the 80F range with the incredible heat levels.
The vacuum in space is better than anything we can create on earth. Since heat is transmitted by the contact between two atoms, once you block the Suns rays I doubt there is much to worry about heat wise.
https://www.space.com/41259-parker-solar-probe-heat-shield-blowtorch.html
snippet
Temperature measures how fast particles move, according to NASA, whereas heat measures how much energy those particles transfer. "Since space is mostly empty, there are very few particles that can transfer energy to the spacecraft."

 
Must be more recent research then. As far as I've always been aware of it was several.million not 20.

That's what it says in my astronomy book from the early 80's; the SRO has been around a long time.
 
...

Another favorite from the book, “A manned mission to Mars, called for by the first President Bush in a moment of passing giddiness, was quietly dropped when someone worked out that it would cost $450 billion and probably result in the deaths of all the crew (their DNA torn to tatters by high-energy solar particles from which they could not be shielded).”

A large superconducting magnet, using a water tank down the middle of the donut to absorb/dump high energy charged particles into Could work; but it leads to other problems, and doesn't do anything for Gammas or Neutrons.

As most of the bad stuff is alphas and betas, and energetic nuclei, all thrown out by the solar wind, it might be ok. Testing would show whether it's effective.

We're going to need some kind of shielding for the Moonbase; unless we put it 100 feet underground. (no atmosphere means thicker dirt, and moon dirt is more light elements, light elements can create neutron showers from energetic nuclei)

Gammas and neutrons will need Feet of shielding, or it actually makes it worse.

You do Not want to depend on any radiation shielding you can personally carry; the scattering effect makes it MORE of a radiation dose, because the lower the energy, the less chance it goes right thru without hitting anything.

Yes, one 5GeV proton is a drag, but it only blows up one or two other atoms as it passes thru; scatter it with a lead shield, and you have a hundred particles carrying 50MeV each, and that's 100x worse.

Lead underwear/shielding works for x-rays, beta, and alphas, but not anything else. :)

A 98% absorption thickness is about 3cm at 511keV, that's what I've been exposed to the most.
 
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