Solar Probe Plus – Delta IV H/Star-48BV – Canaveral SLC-37B – 12.08.2018 в 07:31 UTC

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https://www.ulalaunch.com/missions/delta-iv-parker-solar-probe

[SIZE=8]DELTA IV HEAVY TO LAUNCH PARKER SOLAR PROBE[/SIZE]



• Rocket: Delta IV Heavy
• Mission: Parker Solar Probe
• Launch Date: No earlier than Tuesday, July 31, 2018
• Launch Broadcast: Details to come
• Launch Location: Space Launch Complex-37, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida

Mission Information: Parker Solar Probe is humanity's first mission to the sun. After launch, it will orbit directly through the solar atmosphere – the corona – closer to the surface than any human-made object has ever gone. While facing brutal heat and radiation, the mission will reveal fundamental science behind what drives the solar wind, the constant outpouring of material from the sun that shapes planetary atmospheres and affects space weather near Earth.

Parker Solar Probe is part of NASA's Living With a Star Program to explore aspects of the connected sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society.

Launch Notes: Parker Solar Probe is expected to break the record for the fastest spacecraft to leave Earth's atmosphere, a record set by the New Horizons mission during launch on an Atlas V in 2006. Due to the extremely high energy required for this mission, the Delta IV Heavy's capability will be augmented by a powerful third stage provided by Orbital ATK.

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Randy Persaud‏ @OccasionalAfro 41 мин.41 минуту назад


Oh hi there launch site we'll see you soon #parkersolarprobe #nasa

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https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/revised-launch-date-targeted-for-parker-solar-probe

June 15, 2018

Revised Launch Date Targeted for Parker Solar Probe

NASA and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory are now targeting launch of the agency's Parker Solar Probe spacecraft no earlier than Aug. 4, 2018. Originally scheduled to launch on July 31, additional time is needed to accommodate further software testing of spacecraft systems. The Parker Solar Probe will launch on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex 37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Parker Solar Probe will fly closer to the Sun's surface than any spacecraft before it, facing brutal heat and radiation conditions and ultimately providing humanity with the first-ever samplings of a star's corona.

Last Updated: June 15, 2018
Editor: Rob Garner

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Chris Space Engineer NASA‏ @spaceengineer14 21 июн.

Astrotech processing facility-Titusville, FL Engineers prepare NASA's Parker Solar Probe for light bar testing. It will launch on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex 37. Aug. 4, 2018. Don't be late @annap300

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http://tass.ru/kosmos/5342428

США сдвинули срок запуска своего зонда для исследования Солнца

Космос | 3 июля, 10:28 UTC+3

ВАШИНГТОН, 3 июля. /Корр. ТАСС Дмитрий Кирсанов/. Национальное управление США по аэронавтике и исследованию космического пространства (NASA) сдвинуло срок запуска американской автоматической межпланетной станции, предназначенной для исследования Солнца. Теперь, по свидетельству NASA, стартовое окно открывается "не ранее 4 августа", а не 31 июля. Закрывается оно 19 августа.

"Дополнительное время требуется для дальнейшего тестирования программного обеспечения систем аппарата", - отметило NASA. Вдаваться в детали и пояснять, что именно проходит дополнительные испытания, почему они потребовались, в космическом ведомстве США категорически отказались. "Вся наша обновленная информация будет появляться на сайте миссии в интернете. Стартовое окно по- прежнему открывается 4 августа", - сказала в понедельник корреспонденту ТАСС сотрудник пресс-службы NASA.

Весной станция была переброшена к космодрому на мысе Канаверал (штат Флорида), с которого ей предстоит стартовать. В понедельник была открыта аккредитация журналистов, желающих принять участие в освещении данной, как выражается NASA, "исторической миссии".

Последние приготовления

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В ночь со 2 на 3 апреля зонд был перевезен из входящего в структуру NASA Центра космических полетов имени Годдарда в Гринбелте (штат Мэриленд) на расположенную поблизости базу ВВС и ВМС США Эндрюс. Оттуда аппарат на борту военно-транспортного самолета C-17 доставили на сборочное предприятие компании Astrotech Space Operations, соседствующее с космодромом на мысе Канаверал. Затем зонд со всей предосторожностью извлекли из контейнера, в котором он перебрасывался из Мэриленда во Флориду.

На объекте фирмы Astrotech Space Operations у космодрома на мысе Канаверал станция проходит последние всеобъемлющие испытания.

Кроме того, там ее "упакуют" в специальное термозащитное покрытие, заправят топливом, укроют носовым обтекателем и установят на тяжелую ракету-носитель Delta IV.

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В условиях, "приближенных к боевым"

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С января на протяжении почти двух месяцев станцию подвергали температурным испытаниях в вакууме. Эти тесты шли в Центре имени Годдарда, где зонд, который по размерам сопоставим с небольшим автомобилем, поместили в вакуумную камеру высотой примерно 12 м.

Инженеры сначала проверяли, выдерживают ли зонд и его "начинка" низкую температуру - до минус 292 градусов Фаренгейта (минус 180 Цельсия). Затем ее постепенно увеличивали, чтобы посмотреть, как на станцию воздействует экстремально высокая температура. Потом специалисты чередовали такой перепад температур, имитируя условия полета в космическом пространстве.

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Детали миссии

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Планируется, что в ноябре зонд приблизится к Солнцу на расстояние в 6,4 млн км. Это означает, что аппарат будет находиться в пределах короны Солнца, то есть внешних слоев его атмосферы, где температура может достигать 500 тыс. кельвинов (около 500 тыс. градусов по Цельсию) и даже нескольких миллионов кельвинов.

По замыслу американских ученых, в период по июнь 2025 года зонд совершит 24 витка по орбите вокруг Солнца, разгоняясь до скорости 724 тыс. км в час. На каждый такой виток у него будет уходить 88 дней.

На борту аппарата стоимостью порядка $1,5 млрд будет находиться четыре комплекта научных инструментов. При помощи этой аппаратуры специалисты рассчитывают, в частности, осуществить различные измерения солнечной радиации. Наряду с этим зонд должен будет передать фотоснимки, которые станут первыми, сделанными в пределах солнечной короны. Оборудование устройства будет защищено оболочкой из углепластика толщиной 11,43 см, позволяющей выдержать температуру до примерно 1,4 тыс. градусов по Цельсию.

Как признала в июне прошлого года координатор проекта Никола Фокс, его удалось реализовать только теперь благодаря появлению новых материалов, использованных в первую очередь при создании термостойкого щита зонда. Станция получит и новые панели солнечных батарей, уточнила Фокс. "Мы наконец прикоснемся к Солнцу", - эмоционально сказала о курируемом проекте специалист. По ее выражению, зонд поможет ученым понять, "как работает Солнце".

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Значение проекта

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NASA обещает, что миссия произведет революцию в представлении человека о процессах, протекающих на Солнце. Претворение в жизнь намеченных планов позволит внести "фундаментальный вклад" в понимание причин "нагревания солнечной короны", а также возникновения солнечного ветра (потока ионизированных частиц, истекающего из солнечной короны) и "ответить на критически важные вопросы в гелиофизике, которые уже на протяжении нескольких десятилетий имеют высший приоритет", убеждено NASA. Информация с борта аппарата, по мнению его специалистов, будет иметь огромную ценность и с точки зрения подготовки дальнейших пилотируемых полетов за пределы Земли, поскольку позволит прогнозировать "радиационную обстановку, в которой предстоит работать и жить будущим покорителям космоса".

Зонд назван в честь выдающегося американского астрофизика Юджина Паркера, которому минувшим летом исполнилось 90 лет. Несмотря на почтенный возраст, он до сих пор ведет научную деятельность в Университете Чикаго (штат Иллинойс).

Паркер стал одним из первых в мире специалистов, занимавшихся исследованиями солнечного ветра. С 1967 года он является членом Национальной академии наук США.

Предполагается, что зонд Паркера подлетит в семь раз ближе к Солнцу, чем какой-либо другой из космических аппаратов, ранее отправлявшихся человеком.

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https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-invites-media-to-view-launch-of-mission-to-touch-sun

July 2, 2018
MEDIA ADVISORY M18-103

NASA Invites Media to View Launch of Mission to "Touch" Sun

Media accreditation is open for the launch of NASA's Parker Solar Probe, a historic mission that will revolutionize our understanding of the Sun. The launch window will open at about 4 a.m. EDT, with an approximate one-hour duration, no earlier than Saturday, Aug. 4.

The spacecraft will launch on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket fr om Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida. Media prelaunch and launch activities will take place at CCAFS and NASA's neighboring Kennedy Space Center. 

...

Parker Solar Probe, about the size of a small car, will provide unprecedented information about our Sun, where changing conditions can spread out into the solar system to affect Earth and other worlds. The spacecraft will fly directly into the Sun's atmosphere wh ere, from a safe distance of approximately 4 million miles from its surface, the spacecraft will trace how energy and heat move through the Sun's atmosphere and explore what accelerates the solar wind and solar energetic particles. 

Parker Solar Probe is part of NASA's Living with a Star Program, managed by the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, designed, built and manages the mission for NASA. 

United Launch Alliance of Centennial, Colorado, is the provider of the Delta IV launch service for Parker Solar Probe. Northrop Grumman is providing the rocket's fully-integrated third stage. NASA's Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy, is responsible for launch service acquisition, integration, analysis and launch management. ...

Last Updated: July 2, 2018
Editor: Sean Potter

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https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/cutting-edge-heat-shield-installed-on-nasa-s-parker-solar-probe

July 5, 2018

Cutting-Edge Heat Shield Installed on NASA's Parker Solar Probe

The launch of Parker Solar Probe, the mission that will get closer to the Sun than any human-made object has ever gone, is quickly approaching, and on June 27, 2018, Parker Solar Probe's heat shield — called the Thermal Protection System, or TPS — was installed on the spacecraft.

A mission 60 years in the making, Parker Solar Probe will make a historic journey to the Sun's corona, a region of the solar atmosphere. With the help of its revolutionary heat shield, now permanently attached to the spacecraft in preparation for its August 2018 launch, the spacecraft's orbit will carry it to within 4 million miles of the Sun's fiercely hot surface, where it will collect unprecedented data about the inner workings of the corona.

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Parker Solar Probe's heat shield, called the Thermal Protection System, is lifted and realigned with the spacecraft's truss as engineers from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab prepare to install the eight-foot-diameter heat shield on June 27, 2018.
Credits: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whitman
Download additional multimedia from NASA Goddard's Scientific Visualization Studio

The eight-foot-diameter heat shield will safeguard everything within its umbra, the shadow it casts on the spacecraft. At Parker Solar Probe's closest approach to the Sun, temperatures on the heat shield will reach nearly 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit, but the spacecraft and its instruments will be kept at a relatively comfortable temperature of about 85 degrees Fahrenheit.


The Thermal Protection System connects to the custom-welded truss on the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft at six points to minimize heat conduction.
Credits: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whitman
Download additional multimedia from NASA Goddard's Scientific Visualization Studio

The heat shield is made of two panels of superheated carbon-carbon composite sandwiching a lightweight 4.5-inch-thick carbon foam core. The Sun-facing side of the heat shield is also sprayed with a specially formulated white coating to reflect as much of the Sun's energy away from the spacecraft as possible.


Parker Solar Probe's heat shield is made of two panels of superheated carbon-carbon composite sandwiching a lightweight 4.5-inch-thick carbon foam core. To reflect as much of the Sun's energy away from the spacecraft as possible, the Sun-facing side of the heat shield is also sprayed with a specially formulated white coating.
Credits: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whitman
Download additional multimedia from NASA Goddard's Scientific Visualization Studio

The heat shield itself weighs only about 160 pounds — here on Earth, the foam core is 97 percent air. Because Parker Solar Probe travels so fast — 430,000 miles per hour at its closest approach to the Sun, fast enough to travel from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., in about one second — the shield and spacecraft have to be light to achieve the needed orbit.

The reinstallation of the Thermal Protection System — which was briefly attached to the spacecraft during testing at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab in Laurel, Maryland, in fall 2017 — marks the first time in months that Parker Solar Probe has been fully integrated. The heat shield and spacecraft underwent testing and evaluation separately at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, before shipping out to Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Florida, in April 2018. With the recent reunification, Parker Solar Probe inches closer to launch and toward the Sun.

Parker Solar Probe is part of NASA's Living with a Star Program, or LWS, to explore aspects of the Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. LWS is managed by Goddard for the Heliophysics Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory manages the Parker Solar Probe mission for NASA. APL designed and built the spacecraft and will also operate it.

By Justyna Surowiec
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md.

NASA Media Contact: Karen C. Fox
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

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Last Updated: July 5, 2018
Editor: Rob Garner

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Countdown to T-Zero: Flying Faster, Hotter and Closer Than Ever to the Sun

NASAKennedy

Опубликовано: 10 июл. 2018 г.

NASA's Parker Solar Probe and its United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle prepare for an unprecedented mission to "kiss the Sun." The spacecraft aims to unravel 60 years' worth of mysteries surrounding the Sun's corona. Watch as NASA's Launch Services Program countdown to lift off. Visit http://www.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe to learn more and watch the historic launch on NASA TV in the coming weeks.

(3:27)

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Ken Kremer‏ @ken_kremer 7 июл.

Up close with @ulalaunch #DeltaIVHeavy set to launch #PakerSolarProbe 4 @NASA Aug4 at 4 AM-Humanity's 1st mission to touch Sun! #ULA conducted #WDR this week,back in barn <1 h later. Seen on hot FL day during Cape bus tour. #ULA #NASA.
Credit: @ken_kremer http://spaceupclose.com 

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NASA | 4K Video Countdown to T-Zero: Flying Faster, Hotter and Closer Than Ever to the Sun

NASA

Опубликовано: 11 июл. 2018 г.

NASA's Parker Solar Probe and its United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle prepare for an unprecedented mission to "kiss the Sun." The spacecraft aims to unravel 60 years' worth of mysteries surrounding the Sun's corona. Watch this 4K video as NASA's Launch Services Program continues the countdown to T-zero. Visit https://go.nasa.gov/SolarProbe to learn more and watch the historic launch on NASA TV in the coming weeks.

(0:59)

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2018/07/13/parker-solar-probe-undergoing-additional-processing/

Parker Solar Probe Undergoing Additional Processing

Linda Herridge
Posted Jul 13, 2018 at 2:41 pm


After installation of the solar arrays on May 31, 2018, Parker Solar Probe team members use a laser to illuminate the solar cells and verify that they can create electricity and transfer it to the spacecraft. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whitman

Teams require additional time for processing NASA's Parker Solar Probe spacecraft after discovering a minor tubing leak in the ground support equipment during final processing. The tubing is being repaired, and the spacecraft is healthy. As always, operations take precedence during launch and we needed to cancel media day activities on July 13, 2018. NASA will make every effort to provide updated imagery of the spacecraft prior to encapsulation.

Parker Solar Probe is the agency's mission to touch the Sun. It is scheduled to launch on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy no earlier than Aug. 4, 2018, from Space Launch Complex 37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

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АНОНС

https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/schedule.html

NASA Television Upcoming Events
Watch NASA TV

August 2, Thursday

1 p.m. – Parker Solar Probe pre-launch briefing from Kennedy Space Center (Public Channel)

Aug. 4, Saturday
3:45 a.m. – Parker Solar Probe launch coverage from Kennedy Space Center; launch window opens at 4:17 a.m. (All Channels)

Прим. Все времена - EDT (UTC - 4 ч)

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Chris G - NSF‏ @ChrisG_NSF 16 мин. назад

Confirmation from @ulalaunch CEO Tory Bruno that Delta IV Heavy is ready to launch #NASA's @ParkerSunProbe NET 4 Aug in a 45-min launch window - 04:17-05:02 EDT (0817-0902 UTC).

Tory Bruno‏Подлинная учетная запись @torybruno 28 мин. назад

В ответ @ChrisG_NSF

Good. Yes, good to go

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Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 28 мин. назад

ARTICLE: Parker Solar Probe, ULA enter final pre-launch processing marathon -

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/07/parker-solar-probe-ula-final-pre-launch-marathon/ ...

- By Chris Gebhardt (@ChrisG_NSF)

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2018/07/18/parker-solar-probe-launch-no-earlier-than-aug-6-2018/

Parker Solar Probe Launch No Earlier Than Aug. 6, 2018

Linda Herridge
Posted Jul 18, 2018 at 5:30 pm


Parker Solar Probe sits in a clean room on July 6, 2018, at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Florida, after the installation of its heat shield. Photo credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whitman

NASA now is targeting launch of the Parker Solar Probe no earlier than Aug. 6, 2018. Additional time was needed to evaluate the configuration of a cable clamp on the payload fairing. Teams have modified the configuration and encapsulation operations have continued. Teams also have successfully repaired a leak in the purge ground support tubing on the third stage rocket motor, which was discovered during final spacecraft processing late last week. The satellite will launch on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex 37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

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https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-invites-media-to-preview-briefing-on-spacecraft-that-will-touch-sun

July 19, 2018
MEDIA ADVISORY M18-109

NASA Invites Media to Preview Briefing on Spacecraft that will "Touch" Sun


Illustration of NASA's Parker Solar Probe approaching the Sun.
Credits: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben
Download high-resolution version.

Media are invited to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a preview briefing on the agency's Parker Solar Probe at 1 p.m. EDT Friday, July 20. The event will air live on NASA Television, the agency's website and Facebook Live.

NASA now is targeting launch of the Parker Solar Probe no earlier than Monday, Aug. 6. Additional time was needed to evaluate the configuration of a cable clamp on the payload fairing. Teams have modified the configuration and encapsulation operations have continued. Teams also have successfully repaired a leak in the purge ground support tubing on the third stage rocket motor, which was discovered during final spacecraft processing late last week. The satellite will launch on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex 37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

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Participants in the July 20 briefing will include:

[/li]
• Alex Young, solar scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
• Nicola Fox, Parker Solar Probe project scientist at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL)
• Betsy Congdon, Parker Solar Probe Thermal Protection System lead engineer at APL
  

The event is open only to U.S. citizens who have a government-issued photo identification, such as a driver's license, and proof of U.S. citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate.
...
Parker Solar Probe will revolutionize our understanding of the Sun. The spacecraft will fly closer to the Sun's surface than any spacecraft before it, facing brutal heat and radiation. It will be the first spacecraft to fly directly through the Sun's corona – the part of the solar atmosphere visible during an eclipse – to answer questions about solar physics that have puzzled scientists for more than six decades.

Gathering information about fundamental processes near the Sun can help improve our understanding of how the Sun changes our space environment – such space weather can affect astronauts, interfere with the orbits of satellites, or damage onboard electronics.

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Last Updated: July 19, 2018
Editor: Karen Northon

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Blowtorch vs Heat Shield

NASA Goddard

Опубликовано: 19 июл. 2018 г.

Betsy Congdon of Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab is the Lead Thermal Engineer on the heat shield that NASA's Parker Solar Probe will use to protect itself against the Sun.

The shield is so robust, Congdon can use a blowtorch on one side and the other side remains cool enough to touch.

(1:35)

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Why Won't it Melt? How NASA's Solar Probe will Survive the Sun

NASA Goddard

Опубликовано: 19 июл. 2018 г.

NASA's Parker Solar Probe is heading to the Sun. Why won't the spacecraft melt?

Thermal Protection System Engineer Betsy Congdon (Johns Hopkins APL) outlines why Parker can take the heat.

(2:54)

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https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/traveling-to-the-sun-why-won-t-parker-solar-probe-melt

July 19, 2018

Traveling to the Sun: Why Won't Parker Solar Probe Melt?

This summer, NASA's Parker Solar Probe will launch to travel closer to the Sun, deeper into the solar atmosphere, than any mission before it. If Earth was at one end of a yard-stick and the Sun on the other, Parker Solar Probe will make it to within four inches of the solar surface.

Inside that part of the solar atmosphere, a region known as the corona, Parker Solar Probe will provide unprecedented observations of what drives the wide range of particles, energy and heat that course through the region — flinging particles outward into the solar system and far past Neptune.

Inside the corona, it's also, of course, unimaginably hot. The spacecraft will travel through material with temperatures greater than a million degrees Fahrenheit while being bombarded with intense sun light.

So, why won't it melt?

Parker Solar Probe has been designed to withstand the extreme conditions and temperature fluctuations for the mission. The key lies in its custom heat shield and an autonomous system that helps protect the mission fr om the Sun's intense light emission, but does allow the coronal material to "touch" the spacecraft.

Спойлер

(video 2:54)
NASA's Parker Solar Probe is heading to the Sun. Why won't the spacecraft melt? Thermal Protection System Engineer Betsy Congdon (Johns Hopkins APL) outlines why Parker can take the heat.
Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Download this video in HD formats from NASA Goddard's Scientific Visualization Studio

The Science Behind Why It Won't Melt

One key to understanding what keeps the spacecraft and its instruments safe, is understanding the concept of heat versus temperature. Counterintuitively, high temperatures do not always translate to actually heating another object.

In space, the temperature can be thousands of degrees without providing significant heat to a given object or feeling hot. Why? Temperature measures how fast particles are moving, whereas heat measures the total amount of energy that they transfer. Particles may be moving fast (high temperature), but if there are very few of them, they won't transfer much energy (low heat). Since space is mostly empty, there are very few particles that can transfer energy to the spacecraft.

The corona through which Parker Solar Probe flies, for example, has an extremely high temperature but very low density. Think of the difference between putting your hand in a hot oven versus putting it in a pot of boiling water (don't try this at home!) — in the oven, your hand can withstand significantly hotter temperatures for longer than in the water wh ere it has to interact with many more particles. Similarly, compared to the visible surface of the Sun, the corona is less dense, so the spacecraft interacts with fewer hot particles and doesn't receive as much heat.

That means that while Parker Solar Probe will be traveling through a space with temperatures of several million degrees, the surface of the heat shield that faces the Sun will only get heated to about 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit (about 1,400 degrees Celsius).

The Shield That Protects It

Of course, thousands of degrees Fahrenheit is still fantastically hot. (For comparison, lava from volcano eruptions can be anywhere between 1,300 and 2,200 F (700 and 1,200 C) And to withstand that heat, Parker Solar Probe makes use of a heat shield known as the Thermal Protection System, or TPS, which is 8 feet (2.4 meters) in diameter and 4.5 inches (about 115 mm) thick. Those few inches of protection mean that just on the other side of the shield, the spacecraft body will sit at a comfortable 85 F (30 C).

The TPS was designed by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, and was built at Carbon-Carbon Advanced Technologies, using a carbon composite foam sandwiched between two carbon plates. This lightweight insulation will be accompanied by a finishing touch of white ceramic paint on the sun-facing plate, to reflect as much heat as possible. Tested to withstand up to 3,000 F (1,650 C), the TPS can handle any heat the Sun can send its way, keeping almost all instrumentation safe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=BKinVmBoIrE
(video 1:35)
Betsy Congdon of Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab is the lead thermal engineer on the heat shield that NASA's Parker Solar Probe will use to protect itself against the Sun. The shield is so robust, Congdon can use a blowtorch on one side and the other side remains cool enough to touch.
Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Download this video in HD formats from NASA Goddard's Scientific Visualization Studio

The Cup that Measures the Wind

But not all of the Solar Parker Probe instruments will be behind the TPS.

Poking out over the heat shield, the Solar Probe Cup is one of two instruments on Parker Solar Probe that will not be protected by the heat shield. This instrument is what's known as a Faraday cup, a sensor designed to measure the ion and electron fluxes and flow angles from the solar wind. Due to the intensity of the solar atmosphere, unique technologies had to be engineered to make sure that not only can the instrument survive, but also the electronics aboard can send back accurate readings.


Parker Solar Probe's heat shield is made of two panels of superheated carbon-carbon composite sandwiching a lightweight 4.5-inch-thick carbon foam core. To reflect as much of the Sun's energy away from the spacecraft as possible, the Sun-facing side of the heat shield is also sprayed with a specially formulated white coating.
Credits: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whitman
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The cup itself is made from sheets of Titanium-Zirconium-Molybdenum, an alloy of molybdenum, with a melting point of about 4,260 F (2,349 C). The chips that produce an electric field for the Solar Probe Cup are made from tungsten, a metal with the highest known melting point of 6,192 F (3,422 C). Normally lasers are used to etch the gridlines in these chips — however due to the high melting point acid had to be used instead.

Another challenge came in the form of the electronic wiring — most cables would melt from exposure to heat radiation at such close proximity to the Sun. To solve this problem, the team grew sapphire crystal tubes to suspend the wiring, and made the wires from niobium.

To make sure the instrument was ready for the harsh environment, the researchers needed to mimic the Sun's intense heat radiation in a lab. To create a test-worthy level of heat, the researchers used a particle accelerator and IMAX projectors — jury-rigged to increase their temperature. The projectors mimicked the heat of the Sun, while the particle accelerator exposed the cup to radiation to make sure the cup could measure the accelerated particles under the intense conditions. To be absolutely sure the Solar Probe Cup would withstand the harsh environment, the Odeillo Solar Furnace — which concentrates the heat of the Sun through 10,000 adjustable mirrors — was used to test the cup against the intense solar emission.

The Solar Probe Cup passed its tests with flying colors — indeed, it continued to perform better and give clearer results the longer it was exposed to the test environments. "We think the radiation removed any potential contamination," Justin Kasper, principal investigator for the SWEAP instruments at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, said. "It basically cleaned itself."

The Spacecraft That Keeps its Cool

Several other designs on the spacecraft keep Parker Solar Probe sheltered from the heat. Without protection, the solar panels — which use energy from the very star being studied to power the spacecraft — can overheat. At each approach to the Sun, the solar arrays retract behind the heat shield's shadow, leaving only a small segment exposed to the Sun's intense rays.

But that close to the Sun, even more protection is needed. The solar arrays have a surprisingly simple cooling system: a heated tank that keeps the coolant from freezing during launch, two radiators that will keep the coolant from freezing, aluminum fins to maximize the cooling surface, and pumps to circulate the coolant. The cooling system is powerful enough to cool an average sized living room, and will keep the solar arrays and instrumentation cool and functioning while in the heat of the Sun.


In the Astrotech processing facility in Titusville, Florida, near NASA's Kennedy Space Center, on Tuesday, June 5, 2018, technicians and engineers perform light bar testing on NASA's Parker Solar Probe. The spacecraft will launch on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The mission will perform the closest-ever observations of a star when it travels through the Sun's atmosphere, called the corona. The probe will rely on measurements and imaging to revolutionize our understanding of the corona and the Sun-Earth connection.
Credits: NASA/Glenn Benson

The coolant used for the system? About a gallon (3.7 liters) of deionized water. While plenty of chemical coolants exist, the range of temperatures the spacecraft will be exposed to varies between 50 F (10 C) and 257 F (125 C). Very few liquids can handle those ranges like water. To keep the water from boiling at the higher end of the temperatures, it will be pressurized so the boiling point is over 257 F (125 C).

Another issue with protecting any spacecraft is figuring out how to communicate with it. Parker Solar Probe will largely be alone on its journey. It takes light eight minutes to reach Earth — meaning if engineers had to control the spacecraft from Earth, by the time something went wrong it would be too late to correct it.

So, the spacecraft is designed to autonomously keep itself safe and on track to the Sun. Several sensors, about half the size of a cell phone, are attached to the body of the spacecraft along the edge of the shadow from the heat shield. If any of these sensors detect sunlight, they alert the central computer and the spacecraft can correct its position to keep the sensors, and the rest of the instruments, safely protected. This all has to happen without any human intervention, so the central computer software has been programmed and extensively tested to make sure all corrections can be made on the fly.

Launching Toward the Sun

After launch, Parker Solar Probe will detect the position of the Sun, align the thermal protection shield to face it and continue its journey for the next three months, embracing the heat of the Sun and protecting itself from the cold vacuum of space.

Over the course of seven years of planned mission duration, the spacecraft will make 24 orbits of our star. On each close approach to the Sun it will sample the solar wind, study the Sun's corona, and provide unprecedentedly close up observations from around our star — and armed with its slew of innovative technologies, we know it will keep its cool the whole time.

By Susannah Darling
NASA Headquarters, Washington

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Last Updated: July 19, 2018
Editor: Rob Garner

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https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/07/20/launch-of-nasas-parker-solar-probe-rescheduled-for-aug-6/

Launch of NASA's Parker Solar Probe rescheduled for Aug. 6
July 20, 2018 | Stephen Clark


Parker Solar Probe sits inside a clean room at the Astrotech spacecraft processing facility in Titusville, Florida. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whitman

The launch of NASA's Parker Solar Probe, on the verge of kicking off a seven-year mission culminating in passages through the sun's atmosphere, has been delayed to Aug. 6 to resolve a technical snag encountered during encapsulation of the spacecraft inside the nose shroud of its United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket.

The two-day delay fr om the previous target launch date of Aug. 4 was announced by NASA late Wednesday, as ground crews inside the Astrotech spacecraft processing facility in Titusville, Florida, encapsulated Parker Solar Probe inside the payload fairing of its Delta 4-Heavy launch vehicle.

"Additional time was needed to evaluate the configuration of a cable clamp on the payload fairing," NASA said. "Teams have modified the configuration and encapsulation operations have continued."

Liftoff is planned for approximately 4:08 a.m. EDT (0808 GMT) Aug. 6.

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The spacecraft and its Star 48 upper stage motor, which will provide an extra push to the probe after its launch fr om Cape Canaveral, are scheduled to head for the Complex 37 launch pad in the coming days for lifting atop the Delta 4-Heavy, the post powerful rocket in ULA's fleet.

NASA said technicians at the Astrotech processing facility have repaired a leak discovered last week in purge ground support tubing on the Star 48 rocket motor.

The launch was originally scheduled for July 31, the opening of a 19-day interplanetary launch period governed by the positions of Earth and Venus. Parker Solar Probe will depart Earth on a trajectory to fly by Venus in September, the first of seven gravity assist maneuvers with Earth's sister planet to crank the spacecraft's orbit closer to the sun.

Parker Solar Probe will gradually approach the sun, moving closer after each flyby of Venus before reaching a perihelion — or closest point to the sun — at a distance of around 3.8 million miles (about 6.2 million kilometers) in late 2024. That's well inside the orbit of Mercury, and closer to the sun than the U.S.-German Helios 2 mission reached during its record-setting mission in 1976.

The mission is named for Eugene Parker, the scientist who predicted in 1958 the influence of the solar wind, a stream of plasma that travels outward through the solar system.


Technicians installed the heat shield on Parker Solar Probe on June 27 inside the Astrotech processing facility in Titusville, Florida. Credit: NASA/Glenn Benson

Fitted with a custom carbon composite heat shield, Parker Solar Probe will fly through the corona, a super-heated envelope of plasma surrounding the sun wh ere temperatures soar to millions of degrees. The temperature at the surface of the sun is hundreds of times cooler, but still a blistering 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit (6,000 degrees Celsius).

"That just doesn't make sense," said Nicola Fox, Parker Solar Probe's project scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, which built the spacecraft and leads the science team. "You have a heat source, and it gets hotter as you move away. It's like walking away from a campfire and suddenly getting hotter. It breaks the laws of nature. It breaks the laws of physics."

Scientists believe the million-mile-per-hour solar wind is generated inside the corona.

Key questions Parker Solar Probe was designed to address include charting the flow of heat and energy that accelerates the solar wind, collecting data that could help scientists forecast solar storms that might affect Earth.

Since arriving in Florida from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in April, Parker Solar Probe has been tested and had its heat shield installed. Ground crews have filled the craft with hydrazine fuel, and mounted it on its Star 48 rocket motor, built by Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems, formerly known as Orbital ATK.

Even ULA's Delta 4-Heavy rocket, one of the most powerful launchers in the world, is unable to give Parker Solar Probe enough speed to get started on its lengthy, circuitous route through the inner solar system. Engineers devised the unique combination of the two-stage Delta 4-Heavy and the Star 48 upper stage motor to meet the requirements for Parker's high-speed departure from Earth.

Engineers crafted a similar arrangement for the launch of NASA's New Horizons spacecraft on an Atlas 5 rocket in 2006, adding an extra solid-fueled upper stage to give the probe enough velocity to make a speedy nine-year trip to Pluto.

Officials pushed back Parker's launch from July 31 to Aug. 4 in order to conduct additional software testing of spacecraft systems.

Tim Dunn, a launch director at NASA's Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center, said last month that Parker Solar Probe engines wanted to complete further modeling and testing of temperature sensors on the spacecraft. The probe's platinum resistance thermometers provide data feedback to the craft's solar arrays and cooling system during its passage through the scorching solar corona.

"Right before they shipped (to Florida), they were having some temp sensor hardware issues on the spacecraft," Dunn said. "So what they wanted to do is they wanted to further evaluate wh ere they were with that system and do some more modeling, additional testing and then they needed to take that through the layers of the independent review."

ULA's launch team put the Delta 4-Heavy rocket through a pair of fueling tests, or wet dress rehearsals, earlier this month on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral.

Parker Solar Probe's interplanetary launch window closes Aug. 19, but ULA and NASA engineers have plotted launch trajectories for four additional days through Aug. 23, Dunn said.

"However, there is still discussion from the spacecraft (team) as to whether they want to choose to accept that," Dunn said. "The deeper we get into our window and we haven't launched, they may change their decision-making process."

If Parker misses its launch period in August, the next opportunity to send the mission toward the sun will open in May 2019.

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