Solar Probe

Solar Probe Will be the First Spacecraft to Fly Through the Atmosphere of Our Sun

The Solar Probe, a unique high-technology dual spacecraft mission to be implemented in cooperation with the Russians, will venture deep into the solar corona, the Sun's outer atmosphere - far closer to the Sun than any other spacecraft has previously ventured. It will demonstrate technologies for imaging, and taking in-situ and remote measurements at 3 solar radii (R_s) above solar surface, where radiation temperatures exceed 2000 K.

Solar Probe is designed to answer long-standing fundamental questions:

What heats the extended solar corona and accelerates the solar wind?
From where in the corona do the different types of solar wind originate?
What roles do turbulence and waves play in the coronal heating process?
What are the mechanisms that accelerate, store and transport high energy particles throughout the corona?

Our Sun is the only star we can measure in situ. Solar Probe will relate remotely observed solar phenomena to actual physical processes occurring in the solar atmosphere and corona. This will offer unique access to processes that are important in many other significant but inaccessible stars throughout the Universe.

Click here for a larger, JPEG representation of the figure at the top of the page.

Solar Connections: A Science Initiative for NASA Space Physics

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