NASA has pushed back its launch of a £1.17bn ($1.5bn) probe designed for a historic seven-year mission into the sun's outer atmosphere. The Parker Solar Probe was scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 03:33 local time, which is 08:33 in the UK. Having already been delayed by an hour, the mission was canceled just two minutes before the re-scheduled take-off time of 9.28 due to a "condition". The space agency will try again tomorrow morning at the same original time if engineers can resolve the issue. NASA tweeted: "This morning's launch of the Parker Solar Probe was scrubbed."Launch teams will attempt to launch on Sunday morning."When it does get off the launchpad, the car-sized spacecraft will be lifted by NASA's most powerful launcher, the Delta IV Heavy rocket, beginning a seven-year mission.
Parker will face “brutal” heat and radiation during an epic journey that will take it to within 3.8 million miles of the sun’s surface, according to the space agency. This is seven times closer than the previous closest spacecraft, Helios 2, which came within 27 million miles of the sun in 1976.
The biggest outbursts from the Sun will rattle the Earth's magnetic field. In the process, communications may be disrupted, satellites can be knocked offline, and power grids will be vulnerable to electrical surges. Scientists try to forecast these "storms" and Parker promises new and valuable information to help them do that.
NASA'S Parker Solar Probe Set To Write New Chapter In Cape Canaveral:-
The $1.5 billion mission will take humanity closer to the sun than ever before. Parker will be the first spacecraft to fly through the sun’s corona, the outermost part of the star’s atmosphere. It is expected to reach the sun in November.Parker will face “brutal” heat and radiation during an epic journey that will take it to within 3.8 million miles of the sun’s surface, according to the space agency. This is seven times closer than the previous closest spacecraft, Helios 2, which came within 27 million miles of the sun in 1976.
Why is this mission important? :-
Parker will help us better understand how the Sun works. The star is constantly bombarding the Earth with charged particles and magnetic fields. This perpetual flow, or "solar wind", is responsible for generating the beautiful auroral lights that appear in polar skies, but there are some interactions that initiate much more troubling effects.The biggest outbursts from the Sun will rattle the Earth's magnetic field. In the process, communications may be disrupted, satellites can be knocked offline, and power grids will be vulnerable to electrical surges. Scientists try to forecast these "storms" and Parker promises new and valuable information to help them do that.
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