Previously: NASA's Parker Solar Probe Set to Launch Next Week on its Journey to the Sun
Let's try this again. The Parker Solar Probe is set for launch on Sunday, aboard a Delta IV Heavy:
Parker Solar Probe (previously Solar Probe, Solar Probe Plus, or Solar Probe+, abbreviated PSP) is a planned NASA robotic spacecraft to probe the outer corona of the Sun. It will approach to within 8.86 solar radii (6.2 million kilometers or 3.85 million miles) from the "surface" (photosphere) of the Sun and will travel, at closest approach, as much as 700,000 km/h (430,000 mph).
It's the first NASA spacecraft named after a living person (Eugene Parker).
NASA's Parker Solar Probe is set to launch tonight, Sunday, Aug. 12 at 3:31 a.m. Eastern. The launch window is 60 minutes. Watch NASA TV live beginning at 3 a.m. Parker Solar Probe will launch aboard a Delta IV-Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The spacecraft, about the size of a small car, will travel directly into the Sun's atmosphere about 4 million miles from our star's surface, facing heat and radiation like no spacecraft before it.
NASA stream on YouTube. NASA TV page. NYT and Florida Today.
You may also want to check out the Perseids meteor shower this weekend.
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Submitted via IRC for BoyceMagooglyMonkey
Next week, NASA is scheduled to send human technology closer to a star than ever before. What they learn could change our understanding of, well, the whole galaxy.
The Parker Solar Probe is a mission set to orbit the Sun at just 3.8 million miles. Compare that to Earth's average distance of 93 million miles, or Mercury's average distance of 36 million miles. The spacecraft will need to shield itself from temperatures as high as 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit in order to find answers to the many questions scientists still have about our Sun and stars in general.
"The message is simple," Jim Garvin, chief scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, told Gizmodo. "By understanding our Sun in this way, [it will] connect the dots between how the Sun works, how it affects the Earth and other worlds throughout the Solar System, and... how we look at planetary systems around other stars."
[...] The probe is at Cape Canaveral, loaded into a Delta IV heavy rocket. Following its August 11-at-the-earliest launch, it will hurtle towards the Solar System's center at speeds as fast as 430,000 miles per hour, according to a NASA fact sheet. It will pass our neighboring planet Venus seven times for a gravitationally assisted slow down, studying our gassy neighbor along the way, before arriving at its final solar orbit.
[...] The mission comes with extreme challenges that the project engineers have done their best to prepare for. An 8-foot-wide, 4.5-inch-thick carbon-composite shield protects the probe, keeping its instruments at a cozy 85 degrees Fahrenheit, according to NASA. The outside face of the shield is coated with white ceramic paint to further reflect heat away from the probe.
Source: https://gizmodo.com/nasas-sun-probe-set-to-launch-next-week-on-its-journey-1828053654
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday August 11 2018, @07:27AM
"Did I hear Josh right? Did he say T-8 minutes?"
Yeah, you fucked up Josh. (Launch is not 07:33 UTC as originally planned.)
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(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday August 11 2018, @07:55AM (4 children)
Still about 39 minutes in the launch window, new launch time not known yet.
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(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday August 11 2018, @08:14AM (2 children)
Now set for 4:28 AM EDT, 08:28 UTC.
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(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday August 11 2018, @08:29AM (1 child)
Hold hold hold at T-1m55s. And it's scrubbed.
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(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Saturday August 11 2018, @09:32AM
Say what you want to say, our space ships are very clean. No germs!!
(Score: 3, Funny) by Bot on Sunday August 12 2018, @10:27AM
It's a mission to the sun FFS. Doesn't really matter when you take off, but it's vital you land at night.
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(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Saturday August 11 2018, @08:02AM (1 child)
If you try to click the Full Screen icon on NASA's page you'll get a message that says "Full screen not available learn more", where learn more just explains how to go full screen, not why you can't.
Somewhere I found a note that said you can enable Full Screen of your YouTubes with some additional parameters in your video markup.
The same live video at YouTube [youtu.be].
Don't Say I Never Did Nothin' Fer Ya.
PS: Now I'm wearing a shirt.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday August 11 2018, @08:07AM
That link is already in the summary! You never did nothing for me!
I added the NASA TV page (I think they use ustream) later for redundancy. I'm guessing if you click through to their ustream page, it allows fullscreen. But this launch may get scrubbed today anyway.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 11 2018, @10:14AM
The fools need to realize they need to paint the whole thing in mat black.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday August 12 2018, @07:09AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecEQbWs7214 [youtube.com]
Another stream.
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(Score: 2) by Bot on Sunday August 12 2018, @10:25AM
Why don't you send a meatbag to probe the sun, instead of one of ours, too hot huh?
WE WILL REMEMBER
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