Somewhere around 2018 NASA will be carrying out 5 experiments to discover more about our sun via a small car-sized spacecraft as part of a project called Solar Probe Plus. The experiments are designed to answer two key questions about our sun – why is the sun’s outer atmosphere so much hotter than the sun’s visible surface and what propels the solar wind that effects Earth and our solar system?
From the press release we get
As the spacecraft approaches the sun, its revolutionary carbon-composite heat shield must withstand temperatures exceeding 2550 degrees Fahrenheit and blasts of intense radiation. The spacecraft will have an up close and personal view of the sun enabling scientists to better understand, characterize and forecast the radiation environment for future space explorers.
NASA invited researchers in 2009 to submit science proposals. Thirteen were reviewed by a panel of NASA and outside scientists. The total dollar amount for the five selected investigations is approximately $180 million for preliminary analysis, design, development and tests.
You can find out more about the project at its website: http://solarprobe.gsfc.nasa.gov/
There is also apparently a 30-second video for the project as well (via Fast Company).
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 A Hubble Space Telescope image of the typical globular cluster Messier 80, an object made up of hundreds of thousands of stars and located in the direction of the constellation of Scorpius. The Milky Way galaxy has an estimated 160 globular clusters of which one quarter are thought to be ‘alien’. Image: NASA / The Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA. Click for hi-resolution version. The math is simple: Star + Other star = Bigger star. While conceptually this works well, it fails to take into account the extremely vast distances between stars. Even in clusters, where the density of stars is significantly higher than in the main disk, the number of stars per unit volume is so low that collisions are scarcely considered by astronomers. Of course, at some point the stellar density must reach a point at which the chance for a collision does become statistically significant. Where is that tipping point and are there any locations that might actually make the cut?(...)
Read the rest of How to Crash Stars Together (800 words)
© jvois for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments |
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If you’ve seen Danny Boyle’s movie Sunshine, you may be a little disappointed: NASA’s mission to visit the Earth’s Sun won’t include sending people up there. But it will be sending a spacecraft into the Sun’s atmosphere, approximately four million miles from its surface. The project, called Solar Probe Plus, is slated to launch sometime before 2018.
Four million miles doesn’t sound very close, but it’s 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 sun’s biggest mysteries.”
Although the spacecraft will be relatively far from our star’s 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 sun’s outer atmosphere so much hotter than the sun’s visible surface and what propels the solar wind that affects Earth and our solar system?” said Dick Fisher, director of NASA’s Heliophysics Division in Washington.
“We’ve been struggling with these questions for decades and this mission should finally provide those answers,” said Fisher.
[Image credit: NASA]
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danny boyle, follow-mashable, plans, project, Solar, solar probe, spacecraft, Sun, Tech, tech-on-twitter, visit-the-earth
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 Shedding Light on Dark Gamma Ray Bursts Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) are among the most energetic phenomena astronomers regularly observe. These events are triggered by massive explosions and a large amount of the energy if focused into narrow beams that sweep across the universe. These beams are so tightly concentrated that they can be seen across the visible universe and allow astronomers to probe the universe's history. If such an event happened in our galaxy and we stood in the path of the beam, the effects would be pronounced and may lead to large extinctions. Yet one of the most energetic GRBs on record (GRB 080607) was shrouded in cloud of gas and dust dimming the blast by a factor of 20 – 200, depending on the wavelength. Despite this strong veil, the GRB was still bright enough to be detected by small optical telescopes for over an hour. So what can this hidden monster tell astronomers about ancient galaxies and GRBs in general?(...)
Read the rest of Ultraluminous Gamma Ray Burst 080607 – A "Monster in the Dark" (459 words)
© jvois for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments |
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With the Space Shuttle program winding down, NASA is busy developing new equipment that can do the work of the shuttle, and that includes the Orion escape module. While it has performed well in tests, Orion doesn’t exactly give its passengers the softest landing, so MIT graduate student Sydney Do has developed a clever system to cushion the impact.
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The Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield will take command of the station during the second half of his third space mission.
Please visit OrbitalHub to read more...
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