NASA ready to launch first ever mission to ‘touch’ sun today

NASA will be launching today its most awaited first ever mission to ‘touch’ the sun, which is almost like a mission to hell.

If all goes well then today at 3:33am EDT (12:33pm Pakistan Time), NASA will launch the $1.5 billion Parker Solar Probe from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station atop one of the most powerful rockets in the world, ULA Delta IV Heavy, with an aim to ‘touch’ and learn more about out star, the sun.

The probe the first ever fastest human-made spacecraft ever. After launching out of Earth’s orbit, the probe will be on its path to Venus, pushing closer to sun and ultimately moving at speeds up to 430,000mph as it completes 24 orbits of the sun. The probe is estimated to be for the next seven years up in space, where it will fly by Venus seven times in order to use its gravity to bring itself closer to the sun each time, reported Daily Mail.

NASA accepting submissions from those who want to ‘touch the Sun’

Eventually, the probe will hit the outermost part of sun’s atmosphere called corona, placing the probe around 3.8 million miles away from sun’s surface and seven times closer to it than any craft that came before it, as per NASA.

The craft will be subjected to temperatures of around 2,500°F (1,371°C), but will be protected due to its thick heat shield made of carbon composite foam and carbon filter, making the temperature feel like 85°F for the probe. Moreover, the probe is also carrying along the names of over 1.1 million people who signed up to have their names sent to the sun.

Among other stuff, the probe will have four instrument packages for tracing the movement of energy and heat within the corona in order to help scientists figure out what accelerates solar energetic particles and solar wind.

Scientists hope that the probe will help observe solar flares and better understand about how stars function, and how life began on Earth. People will be able to see live coverage of the launch via NASA TV.