Would you want to go close to sun? - Multiverse

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Last Post 3/24/2021 9:02 AM by Mitzi Adams

Would you want to go close to sun?

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Talia

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3/24/2021 7:39 AM
Dear scientists, If you could safely go near the sun on a spacecraft, would you want to do that? I mean if there was a way not to get too hot, and special windows to see the sun? TIA, Talia

Mitzi Adams

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Posts:101

3/24/2021 9:02 AM
Hello Talia, I have a couple of answers for you, beginning with what is going on now. There are two missions that are/will be observing the Sun from very close quarters: Parker Solar Probe (NASA) and Solar Orbiter (ESA/NASA). You can read about them here: https://www.nasa.gov/cont...irst-visit-to-a-star https://www.esa.int/Scien..._approach_to_the_Sun Both missions will provide us with much needed information to understand the Sun and how it affects the solar system. Those two missions will supply us with scientific information, which until recently, could not be obtained because the technology for protecting the spacecraft was not available. Now for the science FICTION. In season six of Star Trek the Next Generation, the episode "Suspicions", a scientist tests a "multiphasic-shielding technique," and pilots a spacecraft down to the photosphere of a star. Without going into the total plot-line of the episode, the shielding technique does work. Now, Star Trek the Next Generation was set in the 24th century (which would be the 2300s), around 280 years from now. If such technology were proven to exist, I would definitely want to investigate the Sun from close up...but I suspect that if such technology were to exist, a scientist would not NEED to get that close to learn more about the Sun (or any other star), remote sensing would be just as good.