NASA Is Going To Make An Announcement About A Mission To "Touch The Sun"

Tomorrow , Wednesday May 31 at 11 am EDT ( 4 postmortem examination BST ) , NASA is go tomake an announcementabout a groundbreaking commission that will “ touch the Sun ” .

The mission is called Solar Probe Plus , with a be after launching date in July 2018 . It will come seven time faithful to the Sun than any spacecraft before , just   6.4 million kilometer ( 4 million miles ) from its surface , as it directly samples the solar corona .

We do n’t know what the announcement tomorrow is about yet , but NASA will be airing the case live on NASA TV . you may see thathere , and we ’ve also embed it below . It will be taking place from the University of Chicago ’s William Eckhardt Research Center Auditorium .

According to NASA , Solar Probe Plus will face “ heat and radiation unlike any space vehicle in history . ” It will “ research the Sun ’s KO’d aura and make critical observations that will answer decades - honest-to-god questions about the physics of how stars work . ”

The intention of the mission is not only to learn more about how our ace work , but also to better prepare for space weather . The Sun frequently sends storms of particles in our focal point , which can hamper satellites operating in Earth orbit .

Solar Probe Plus will be subjected to temperatures of up to 1,370 ° C ( 2,500 ° F ) . To survive , it will use a 4.5 - inch - deep heat - resistant carbon - composite cuticle . This will protect its various instruments , which will study the Sun ’s magnetic field , plasma , and solar wind .

“ Solar Probe Plus is an sinful and historic mission exploring arguably the last and most important region of the Solar System to be visited by a spacecraft , ” NASA note on itswebsitefor the charge .

The spacecraft will be placed in a wide elliptical orbit around the Sun survive about 170 days . It will embroil from Earth ’s ambit down to within eight solar radii of the open . It will study the Sun in point at its close point for about 11 Day , with the residue of the fourth dimension spent transmit datum back to Earth .

One of the key questions the mission will trust to answer is why the Sun ’s electric glow – its outer atmosphere – is so much hotter than its surface . The temperature on the surface can get hold of 6,000 ° C ( 11,000 ° F ) , but the corona can reach a few million degrees . And westill are n’t surewhy this is the suit .

So melodic line in tomorrow for what promises to be an exciting declaration . This really is one of the most awful missions of the coming geezerhood , as we seek to learn more about how stars like the Sun really work .