THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES
Nasa will send your name to the SUN – here’s how to get on the list
NASA is giving you the chance to make history by getting your name on a spacecraft that will be blasted into the sun's atmosphere
NASA is giving you the chance to be part of the first ever mission to the sun.
This summer, it plans to send a spacecraft to the scorching ball of fire, and onboard could be your name.
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The historic Parker Solar Probe mission will travel through the sun's brutally hot atmosphere to seek out answers to questions scientists have been grappling with for over six decades.
Inside, the high-tech spaceship, will be a microchip that Nasa plans to fill with names, including (if you so wish), yours.
To get on the list, just sign up on the Parker Solar Probe page, by entering your name and email.
But, be quick, as the cutoff date is April 27, while the shuttle itself could launch as soon as July 31.
Check out the video above, starring one William Shatner (aka Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise) for all the details.
The study of how the sun affects space and the environment of planets, known in scientific terms as heliophysics, has always been a priority for scientists.
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And, the Parker Solar Probe could help researchers crack some of the biggest mysteries of our universe.
Specifically, it will trace how energy and heat move through the solar atmosphere, and explore what accelerates the solar wind as well as solar energetic particles.
The super-fast spacecraft will blast into the sun's atmosphere at a speed of around 430,000 mph – that's fast enough to get from Washington D.C. to Tokyo in under a minute.
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Scientists are banking on its 4.5-inch thick shield to protect it from the sun's raging temperatures, which will reach as high as 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit outside the craft.
“Parker Solar Probe is, quite literally, the fastest, hottest — and, to me, coolest — mission under the Sun,” said project scientist Nicola Fox, of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.
“This incredible spacecraft is going to reveal so much about our star and how it works that we’ve not been able to understand.”
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Another first for the mission relates to its namesake: astrophysicist Eugene Parker.
Never before has a Nasa spacecraft been named after a living individual
Back in the '50s, Parker proposed a number of groundbreaking theories about how stars – including our sun – give off energy.
He called this cascade of energy the solar wind, and also theorised an explanation for the super-heated solar atmosphere (the corona), which – contrary to what was expected by physics laws – is hotter than the surface of the sun itself.
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