Parker Solar Probe
MISSION
PARKER SOLAR PROBE
NASA's
Parker Solar Probe – A mission to touch the sun, will transform our
understanding of the Sun.
PARKER
SOLAR PROBE:
Parker solar
probe is a NASA spacecraft. It was launched in 2018. The purpose of this launch
is to get more informed about our huge star Sun by reaching its outer corona. It
will approach within 9.86 solar radii from Sun's core. By the year 2025, it
will travel at a speed of 0.064% of the speed of light reaching its
closest approach to the sun. The closest approach of the parker solar probe
will be 8.5 million kilometers from the surface of the sun which is set to be
done on October 29, 2018. On this date, it will become the first spacecraft to
travel as much nearer to the sun. The previous record was made by Helios 2
in 1976, reaching 42.73 million kilometers from the surface of the sun. NASA
Parker solar probe is the fastest object ever built yet.
What exactly is the parker solar probe?
- A research expedition to investigate the Sun's corona and solar wind.
- A spacecraft that employs cutting-edge technology and autonomy to withstand brutal heat and radiation from the sun, unlike any prior mission.
- A first solar observatory that will circle within 4 million miles of the surface of our star to research the genesis of the solar wind.
Nature
Of Mission:
Mission
Parker solar Probe also called Mission PSP is a Heliophysics mission where
Heliophysics deals with the study of the Sun and its connection with the solar
system.
Name
of the spacecraft:
It is the first-ever
spacecraft that is named after a living personality Eugene Newman Parker.
He is a nonagenarian physicist and a professor at the University of
Chicago. It was previously known as the “solar probe” before 2002.
From 2010 to 2017 it was known as “solar probe plus”. It is known as the
“parker solar probe” since 2017.
Start
of mission:
Launching Time
= August 12, 2018, at 3:31 am EDT (7:31 UTC)
launching
platform = Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
Max. Launch
C3 (Launch Energy) = 154km2/s2
Launching Equipment
= Delta IV-Heavy with Upper Stage
Contractor =
United Launch Alliance
The
arrival of the parker solar probe:
The arrival
of the parker solar probe has been recorded. You can check the video given
below 👇:
Duration
of the mission Parker:
The duration
of the mission parker solar probe is seven years i.e., (2018-2025). It
will orbit around the sun 24 times during these seven years.
Manufacturer
of solar probe:
It was
designed and built by John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
Cost
of project:
The project
Mission Parker Solar probe was announced during the 2009 fiscal year. The
project cost up to 1.5 billion US dollars.
Components
of parker solar probe:
There are
four major components of the parker solar probe:
1. FIELDS (Electromagnetic
Fields Investigation)
2. SWEAP (Solar Wind Electrons
Alphas and Proton)
3. IS⊙IS (Integrated Science
Investigation of the Sun-pronounced as “ee-sis” where ⊙
is the symbol for the sun)
4. WISPR (Wide-field Imager for Solar Probe)
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Let’s
discuss all the components in detail.
FIELDS:
It is a
scientific instrument suit embedded in the parker solar probe used to detect
and measure the electric and magnetic fields of the sun’s atmosphere. FIELDS
consist of the following main parts:
1. Five antennas- four are joined beyond
the heat shield also called sunlit antennas and the fifth antenna is placed
perpendicular to others in the shade of the heat shield.
2. Three magnetometers- one SCM and two
identical fluxgate magnetometers
Measurement
of the electric field:
FIELDS uses
antennas to measure the electric field. The sunlit antennas of 2-meter length at
the front, bear extremely high temperatures up to 1371.111 degrees Celsius and
measure the electric field at a broad frequency range. They also measure the
properties of fast and slow solar winds. Whereas the fifth antenna makes 3D
pictures of electric field at high frequencies.
Measurement
of the magnetic field:
FIELDS uses
magnetometers to measure the magnetic field. The size of these magnetometers is
roughly the size of a fist. The SCM (Search Coil Magnetometer) measures the
timely changes in the magnetic field. Since SCM is placed closer to the Sun
where the magnetic field changes rapidly, it is designed to measure the magnetic
field at a rate of 2 million times per second. Now heading towards the two
identical fluxgate magnetometers, MAGi and MAGo. They are used for the
measurement of the large-scale coronal magnetic field. MAGi and MAGo measure
magnetic fields at a slower rate since they are placed distant from the sun
where magnetic field changes are slow.
SWEAP (Solar Wind
Electrons Alphas and Proton):
SWEAP
consists of two instruments:
1. SPC (solar probe cup)
2. SPAN (solar probe analyzer)
The most
prominent solar wind particles, such as electrons, protons, and helium ions,
are counted by the SWEAP instruments. They also measure properties such as
velocity, density, and temperature for a better understanding of solar wind and
coronal plasma.
SPC
(solar probe cup):
A solar
probe cup SPC also called the “Faraday cup” is a metallic device capable of
catching charged particles in a vacuum. It is completely exposed to the sun’s
heat light and energy. It measures the movement of electrons and ions, sorts
particles, and measures their properties. As it approaches the sun, SPC makes
up to 146 observations every second to precisely quantify the plasma's
velocity, density, and temperature.
SPAN
(solar probe analyzer):
SPAN is
divided into two instruments SPAN A and SPAN B. it is used to see those parts
of space that were unseen through the SPC. SPAN A is made of two instruments
that measure electrons and ions. While SPAN B only measures electrons.
IS⊙IS:
IS⊙IS (The Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun), or
ISIS, is a research project that examines energetic particles with energies
ranging from tens of thousands of electron volts to roughly one hundred million
electron volts. ISIS can look at solar energetic particles of all energies that
SWEAP cannot find. It consists of two energetic particle instruments (EPI):
1. EPI-LO (energetic particle instrument-LO)
2. EPI-HI (energetic particle instrument-HI)
When particles pass through ISIS
instruments, they detect and measure the energies of these particles. Both of
them consist of solid-state detectors.
EPI-LO (energetic
particle instrument-LO):
Low-energized particles are detected
and measured by EPI-LO. The solar wind is a continuous flow of low-energy
particles measured by EPI-LO. It also measures the spectra of electrons and
ions. Furthermore, it identifies
carbon, oxygen, neon, magnesium, silicon, iron, and two isotopes of helium,
He-3, and He-4. The identification of two different helium isotopes helps
determine the cause which accelerates the particles. It also gives the starting
time of the particles.
EPI-HI (energetic
particle instrument-HI):
Highly energized particles that cannot
be detected by EPI-LO are detected and measured by EPI-HI. It consists of three
particle sensors made of stacked layers of detectors. Besides measuring the
energy, it can also determine the direction of the particle. EPI-Hi is capable
of detecting up to 100,000 particles per second when it is closest to the sun.
WISPR (Wide-field Imager
for Solar Probe):
WISPR is the imaging instrument at the parker solar probe. It consists of two telescopes. An internal telescope and an external telescope.
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WISPR captures images of distant
structures like coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, jets, and other ejecta from
the Sun.
Heat-resistant
chemicals used in solar probe:
Parker solar
probe was made heat resistant by using chemicals like tungsten, niobium,
sapphire, molybdenum, etc.
The
trajectory of the parker solar probe:
The Parker
solar probe will take seven years to execute seven Venus flybys to reduce the
size of its orbit around the Sun, bringing it closer to the Sun by 6.616
million kilometers. It is the first spacecraft to get seven times closer to
Mercury than any previous spacecraft.
The
trajectory of the parker solar probe can be graphically visualized in the video
given below:👇
Images captured by WISPR:
First light image captured by WISPR.
The right portion of the image is taken from the inner telescope while the left
portion of the image is captured by the outer telescope.
Image showing the bright
sphere of Earth on Sept 25, 2018. The elongated mark towards the panel's bottom
is a lens reflection from the WISPR instrument.
Image of a coronal streamer showing mercury in the center. The image is taken from 27.19 million kilometers away from the surface of the earth. The image was captured on November 8, 2018, at 1:12 a.m. EST.
WISPR captured the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The images were taken on 7th June 2020. This was the time when the parker Solar probe was making its closest approach to the sun.
WISPR captured this image during the second Venus flyby of the parker solar probe in July 2020.
The probe captured these images during its fourth Venus flyby. This image shows the nightside surface of the planet.
Video of early 2021 when Parker solar
probe passes through the sun’s corona. Here the probe is flying by coronal
streamers.
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