Closest-Ever Probe of Sun is New NASA Mission

[elatus]

Hell ya, we need to probe everything out there.

[MAXMARTINS23]

they should study the earth, and find a way to protect it,instead of melting probes in the sun

[YosefSkato]

They just dont know what to waste money on... why not just give it to the poors.

and 1 million for me please! :D

[roidroid]

haha, they actually called it "Solar Probe Plus"?! haha.

[elvisinpersonator]

No sweat, if you cannot make it, fake it ;)

[skamakozi]

@AustralianPhenomena

There's Plain, Mild, Medium, Hot, Habanero, Fireball, Nuclear, Death, Armageddon, and Lemon Pepper. I'm guessing Lemon Pepper.

[snoopyloopy]

"what happens on the sun on a normal day..."

how do you define day on the sun? and very related, is there ever night on the sun?

[Zaltor2]

@snoopyloopy XD I went to the sun the other day, but it was night time so I didn't see anything. AH!AH!AH! That's hilarious! XD

[TheYakasama]

let it burn let it burn!!!

[Sh33un]

The probe won't fry. The space is dead cold because it is a vacuum.

[Doopdon]

@Sh33un the sun warms it and a vacuum is a very good insulator so the heat will build up quickly.

[LesPaul2006]

The lack of activity on the Sun lately might be concerning. The threat of a massive solar storm is real, if not to human life, to all power grids all over the world. Let's hope this mission provides data to prevent such a disaster, which would cost 2 trillion and 10 years of recovery.

[StonesDunedin]

@LesPaul2006 .. An Australian expert has recently shown that there isn't a factual basis for those claims... t i n y u r l .com/2b4mrb9

There isn't any evidence that the coming maximum will be any worse than all the previous solar maximums. If you have some evidence please supply it.

[AchilliesHD]

the sun is a thermonuclear fusion you can't not smell or tastes the sun..this is just funny

[dorinvladstefan]

They should go in the night!

[klforever2003]

@dorinvladstefan what are you talking about " they should go in the night"? you mean the sun is not hot at night lol? the sun temp doesn't change, it is HOT LIKE HELL.

[dorinvladstefan]

@klforever2003 It's an old joke about american and russian scientists. During the cold war american scientists wanted to send people to the sun, so they could claim it, but people wondered how they could get there if it's so hot on the sun, so the russians thinked they could go there by night :)

[rfyl]

@dorinvladstefan Another old joke: Which is more useful, the Sun or the Moon? Answer: The Moon, because the Sun only shines during the daytime, when it's bright anyway.

[laserfloyd]

I wonder if there is beer on the sun.

[AleximusMaximus]

@laserfloyd It's beer Jim, but not as we know it.

[Deviantial]

How hot will it be?

[quackstar84]

Taste like chicken. 

[Nuel2080]

We all know that the sun will most possibly taste like a mexican taco!

[anemos11]

Umm... Sun should taste like.. Id dont known.. fire?

[kris1991]

Solar Probe Plus, is that seriously the best name they could come up with? I hope it's temporary. Anyways, GO NASA GO!!!

[Naturality]

Does anyone know how the maximum speed this craft is expected to reach? Will it break the record set by the Helios probes?

[Jalenxx]

do a manned mission to mars

[budwheizzah]

Finally.... going to gather more crucial information about the sun! Knowing more about the star that allows us to live is pretty darn important in my book. Anyway, NASA have been stacking up the solar missions recently and it's been paying off, teaching us on how solar weather behaves and possibly help us better prepare for it.

[FunnyGuy5051]

now why do we need to go to the sun?

[PowerHeal]

*cry* waste of my taxes *cry*

[V1nd3x]

@PowerHeal Now aren't you retarded...

[PreApproved1]

what happens in the sun depends of what happens in the center of our galaxy...i guess so

[OrphanPaper]

u mean 4 million miles from the upper atmosphere,of the sun the explanation given hear gives a false impression,

[lilspark3000]

Very interesting. I hope this is successful.

[acs1978aus]

What a lovely woman and what an interesting mission.

[Z1BABOUINOS]

Daedalus warned NASA:

4.000.000 miles. Not an inch closer!

[Geeeeoheffeff]

@Z1BABOUINOS Well JAXA did build IKAROS, so we'll se how that goes!

[Pizarroconquer]

@Z1BABOUINOS

hehe :)

[Laverty318]

I dont see how this will work,

sending a probe in the suns atmosphere, its gonna melt.

[eah2119]

@Laverty318 Look at NotGodsCreation comment. NASA expects temperatures of 1000-2100 Kelvin. Diamond has a melting temperature of 3820 Kelvin. NASA will be using some type of carbon compound and this sounds good considering diamond is a polymorph of carbon.

[masticina]

So in 2012 we will land a man on the sun?

[eLLriDe420]

@masticina wont need to earth will be fine. so will humans

[masticina]

@eLLriDe420

There goes my plan to sell fridges...

[eLLriDe420]

@masticina dont worry about the end of time, just live. and when its our time to go its our time to go.

[masticina]

@eLLriDe420

End of TIme, mmm well time doesn't just ends And if it does we wouldn't notice. Or End TImes..as in the biblical stories.. I don't put much value in biblical stories really. Many of them fail to meet the mark.

[NotGodsCreation]

hmm... i checked the NASA's page for this mission and from what i've read they expect temperatures of 1000-2100 K and they are using a "carbon–carbon (C-C) shell" or "carbon aerogels and aerogel infiltrated carbon foam" for thermal insulation and protection ... not very science fiction after all :) it looks like a pretty manageable mission

[Nuel2080]

i don't think is going to last too long in the sun's atmosphere it's probably going to melt in less than 30 minutes just like the probe that went to venus.

[punpcklbw]

@Nuel2080 There's a big difference compared to Venus landers; the solar probe will remain in a near vacuum environment, and everything we need to do is to protect it from one-sided intense radiation what is much easier to implement.

[csadler]

@ArthBHx What does being Indian  have to do with it? I'll bet she knows more than you.

[tchenta1965]

didn't Icarus burned his wings in mythology? ... wouldn't be nice if it was at least 20 years ago ?

[aznguymetal]

@ArthBHx India girl are smart.

[NotGodsCreation]

wow... that probe is going to sustain heavy abuse... i wonder what the protective shield is going to be made of since the temperatures in the Sun's atmosphere are in the milions of Kelvin!

A very bold mission!

[HordeFTL]

@NotGodsCreation Yeah, also wonder how they managed to test the protective shield also, what machine could generate Sun like temperatures, NASA must have some crazy equipment in their facilities 

[masticina]

@NotGodsCreation

Kinda a suicide mission isn't it just like those mars probes. It is about the Data they collect and send in that the actual device is probably doing to fail after a certain point.

Every one of these experiments brings us closer to go ourselves to places like these. Okay the sun is a bad area.. but other planets sure!

[NotGodsCreation]

@masticina

It's not going to be a manned mission only a robotic probe...  :)

[AustralianPhenomena]

I wonder what the sun smells and tastes like :D

[xzaz2]

@AustralianPhenomena Like peper... very hot

[mecher3k]

@AustralianPhenomena

Smell and taste some flames :P

[Pizarroconquer]

@AustralianPhenomena

Tabascoo extra +!

[patio87]

@AustralianPhenomena

"I wonder what the sun smells and tastes like :D "

It tastes and smells like death.

[Naraxsus]

@AustralianPhenomena Orange Crush soda!

[FatherTime89]

@AustralianPhenomena If I may quote Ralph Wiggum "It tastes like burning."

[Capeau]

@AustralianPhenomena

strawberry bubblegum

[Debesukaleejs]

@AustralianPhenomena don't know how it smells but i can tell you it will taste hot.

[Spronne]

@AustralianPhenomena Like chicken xD

[tiapon]

lol!

anyways great job NASA

[TheFutureIsRightHere]

Awesome!