- Mission to the Sun: the Parker probe trip
Life on Earth depends directly on the Sun. Our star has fascinated and frightened humanity for millennia but the desire to know more about it has been marred by the technical difficulties to reach it. The Sun is a true nuclear reactor and surviving near it a challenge for any device.
Thanks to technological improvements and the development of new materials, engineers are being able to create ships that are sun-proof. In the early hours of Monday, around 5 (Spanish peninsular time), one of them is scheduled to take off. It is called Solar Orbiter , it has been created by the European Space Agency (ESA) in collaboration with NASA, has an important technological contribution from Spain and, among other aspects, will explore the poles of the Sun, from which you will obtain images for the first time .
At the time of maximum approach to the Sun, the ship will be located 42 million kilometers away . Although NASA's Parker probe, with which it will work together, is closer, it does not have cameras that point directly at the Sun.
To protect itself from the more than 500ºC it will support, Solar Orbiter carries a thermal shield. Its structure is made of titanium and, according to Luis Sánchez, head of development of the mission's ground science infrastructure, the most novel thing is that it is covered with a substance called SolarBlack , developed by ENBIO and ESA, and It is inspired by animal bones . This material absorbs heat and prevents it from entering inside.
«Why do we do it? Because we want to understand how the Sun works, how the environment of the Sun influences the heliosphere [the region under the influence of the solar wind and its magnetic field] and how solar activity works [the constant current of electrically charged particles that the Sun releases in all directions of space]. The poles are very important to understand it ”, explains Yannis Zouganelis, deputy scientific head of Solar Orbiter, during a meeting with journalists at ESAC, the ESA Astronomy Center in Villafranca del Castillo (Madrid). "There is a solar cycle of 11 years but we do not know how to explain why it is 11 years or why solar eruptions are created."
Among the answers they want to answer is how the magnetic field works. On the other hand, says Zouganelis, “ 60 years ago we have known the solar wind, but we don't know where it comes from , how it accelerates and spreads. We have also observed sunspots for a long time, but there are many mysteries of solar physics that we do not understand ».
Earth Effects
Investigating these aspects goes far beyond scientific curiosity. As Günter Hasinger, ESA's Director of Science recalls, in addition to posing a danger to the life of astronauts in space, " when there has been intense solar activity there have been consequences on Earth ." The German scientist remembers the most serious: in 1859, after a solar storm, the telegraph system of Europe and North America fell and in 1989 there was a great blackout in Canada.
And as Zouganelis points out, we are now more vulnerable: «The Sun influences the entire Solar System and of course the Earth. If there is a very energetic eruption it can affect communications, energy installations and astronauts who are going to travel to other planets.
«During the Apollo program we were very lucky because there was no solar flare. If there had been, the astronauts would have had problems. Studying the Sun will help us determine when it is most appropriate to travel to the Moon or Mars, ”adds Hasinger.
Solar Orbiter will work together with the Parker spacecraft, which was launched in August 2018. As Zouganelis recalls, there have been other missions to the Sun - Ulysses and SOHO have also studied it - but together, « Solar Orbiter and Parker form the most complete team. Now we are going to get as close as possible to the Sun, we are going to take measurements of what is around the ship and, at the same time, we are going to take pictures of the Sun, ”says Zouganelis.
The ship will be launched from Cape Canaveral, in Florida , and in the event that an incident arises that forces to postpone the takeoff, the launch window will remain open until February 26.
The probe was assembled in the United Kingdom and moved to the US at the end of October: " We were worried about Brexit and we wanted to take it soon , although it was eventually delayed," says Hasinger.
While ESOC, the ESA center in Germany, will control all the ship's systems and its engineers will be responsible for arriving at its destination, ESAC, the ESA's Madrid center, will take care of the scientific operations: «From Madrid we will take care of the collection and downloading of scientific data to Earth, ”says Anik De Groof, instrument operations coordinator.
« The ship has 10 instruments , among which there are telescopes and sensors of all types that are very complementary so we have to coordinate all operations because we have to plan what kind of data we want to take at each moment of the mission to respond to scientific issues and to coordinate with the Parker ship ».
If everything goes as planned, after takeoff the ship will head to Venus. It will take a couple of weeks to verify that everything is going well. "On February 24, the checks of the 10 instruments will begin, which will take us three months and will be operational by the end of June," summarizes Luis Sánchez. Some of the telescopes are very complex and will be in the adjustment process for quite some time. The scientific objectives will be defined for a year and a half and the operations themselves will begin in November 2021.
In 2026 they will end although as it is designed to last 10 years, the mission could be extended.
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