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1990
The Sun’s Poles
Ulysses, a joint NASA-ESA mission, becomes the first mission to fly over the
Sun’s north and south poles. Among other findings, Ulysses found that in periods of minimal solar activity, the fast solar wind comes from the poles, while the slow solar wind comes from equatorial regions.
1995
Slow Solar Wind and Helmet Streamers
Neil R. Sheeley Jr. and colleagues identify puffs of slow solar wind emanating from helmet streamers — bright areas of the corona that form above magnetically active regions on the photosphere. Exactly how these puffs are formed is still not known.
2010
NASA selects science investigations for a new Heliophysics mission called the solar probe plus
2010 to 2018
The scientists are prepared the parker solar probe.
What are the instruments that the probe needs it?
Parker Solar Probe carries four instrument suites designed to study magnetic fields, plasma and energetic particles, and image the solar wind.
1-FIELDS
Surveyor of the invisible forces, the FIELDS instrument suite captures the scale and shape of electric and magnetic fields in the Sun’s atmosphere. FIELDS measures waves and turbulence in the inner heliosphere with high time resolution to understand the fields associated with waves, shocks and magnetic reconnection, a process by which magnetic field lines explosively realign. FIELDS was designed, built, and is operated by a team lead by the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California.
2-WISPR (Wide-Field Imager for Parker Solar Probe):
The Wide-Field Imager for Parker Solar Probe (WISPR) is the only imaging instrument aboard the spacecraft.
WISPR looks at the large-scale structure of the corona and solar wind before the spacecraft flies through it.
WISPR helps link what’s happening in the large-scale coronal structure to the detailed physical measurements being captured directly in the near-Sun environment.
WISPR was designed and developed by the Solar and Heliophysics Physics Branch at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington which will also develop the observing program.
captured photo of the solar wind by WISPR
3-SWEAP (Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons Investigation)
The Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons investigation, or SWEAP, gathers observations using two complementary instruments: the Solar Probe Cup, or SPC, and the Solar Probe Analyzers, or SPAN. The instruments count the most abundant particles in the solar wind-electrons, protons, and helium ions-and measure such properties as velocity, density, and temperature to improve our understanding of the solar wind and coronal plasma. SWEAP was built mainly at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and at the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley.
4-ISOIS (Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun)
The Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun-IS IS, pronounced ee-sis and including the symbol for the Sun in its acronym-uses two complementary instruments in one combined scientific investigation to measure particles across a wide range of energies. By measuring electrons, protons, and ions, IS IS will understand the particles’ lifecycles-where they came from, how they became accelerated and how they move out from the Sun through interplanetary space.
The two energetic particle instruments on IS IS are called EPI-Lo and EPI-Hi (EPI stands for Energetic Particle Instrument).
5-The Shield That Protects It
Parker Solar Probe makes use of a heat shield known as the Thermal Protection System, or TPS, which is 8 feet (2.4 meters) in diameter and 4.5 inches (about 115 mm) thick. Those few inches of protection mean that just on the other side of the shield, the spacecraft body will sit at a comfortable 85 F (30 C).
The TPS was designed by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and was built at Carbon-Carbon Advanced Technologies, and it looks like the graphite epoxy that are in the tennis racket, and another material is a carbon composite foam sandwiched between two carbon plates and it is about 97% air, and it is very light weight way in making and very strong structure. This lightweight insulation will be accompanied by a finishing touch of white ceramic paint on the sun-facing plate, to reflect as much heat as possible and keeping the front and keeps things cool in the back.
6-the Solar Probe Cup
the Solar Probe Cup is one of two instruments on Parker Solar Probe that will not be protected by the heat shield. This instrument is what’s known as a Faraday cup, a sensor designed to measure the ion and electron fluxes and flow angles from the solar wind coronal plasma. Due to the intensity of the solar atmosphere, unique technologies had to be engineered to make sure that not only can the instrument survive, but also the electronics aboard can send back accurate readings.
-Another issue with protecting any spacecraft is figuring out how to communicate with it
Parker Solar Probe will largely be alone on its journey. So, the spacecraft is designed to autonomously keep itself safe and on track to the Sun. Several sensors, about half the size of a cell phone, are attached to the body of the spacecraft along the edge of the shadow from the heat shield. If any of these sensors detect sunlight, they alert the central computer and the spacecraft can correct its position to keep the sensors, and the rest of the instruments, safely protected. This all must happen without any human intervention, so the central computer software has been programmed and extensively tested to make sure all corrections can be made on the fly.
7-The system that keeps the probe cool
The solar panels which use energy from the very star being studied to power the spacecraft can overheat. Because it doesn’t have protection, the solar arrays retract behind the heat shield’s shadow, leaving only a small segment exposed to the Sun’s intense rays.
So, this need more protection, The solar arrays have a simple cooling system: a heated tank that keeps the coolant from freezing during launch, two radiators that will keep the coolant from freezing, aluminum fins to maximize the cooling surface, and pumps to circulate the coolant. The cooling system is powerful enough to cool an average sized living room and will keep the solar arrays and instrumentation cool and functioning while in the heat of the Sun.
the coolant that are used for the system is about a gallon (3.7 liters) of deionized water. While plenty of chemical coolants exist, the range of temperatures the spacecraft will be exposed to varies between 50 F (10 C) and 257 F (125 C). Very few liquids can handle those ranges like water.
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