The US space agency NASA is going to reveal its most critical mission ‘Solar Prob Plus’ on May 31 at 11 AM EDT (8:30 IST). The NASA television and website will broadcast the live stream of the event. It is the first mission to study the outer atmosphere of the sun.
The Solar Prob Plus mission is scheduled to be launched in summer 2018. This mission will explore the sun’s outer surface and make many critical observations. The data received from this spacecraft may reveal how stars work and how they are formed. This is something mysterious since very long and scientists are trying to decode it for years.
As per the reports, the spacecraft will be placed in the orbit 4 million miles away from the surface of the sun. This is the first ever spacecraft which will face the extreme heat and radiation coming directly from the sun.
The data received from the Solar Prob Plus will improve the weather forecasting of major space. The space weather impacts not only the human life but also astronauts and satellites placed in space.
As per the NASA officials, the temperature of the sun’s surface is around 5,500 °C but the temperature above it nearly 2 million °C. This mission will help the scientist to understand why the atmosphere and core of the sun are so hot.
The space agency also has shifted the date (one year ahead) of their robotic spacecraft mission to a unique metal asteroid ‘Psyche’ in 2022. This spacecraft is an asteroid orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. It is made of entirely Nickel and Iron metals and it is part of the agency’s discovery program which is aimed at exploring the solar system. It is low-cost and highly focused robotic space mission.
