If you reading this, its not too late to send your name to the sun.
As CNN reported, NASA has invited people across the world to submit their names to be included in a microchip that will be sent to the sun as a part of the historic Parker Solar Probe mission, which will travel into the suns atmosphere so that scientists can have their first-ever close-up view of a star.
This probe will journey to a region humanity has never explored before, Thomas Zurbuchen, the associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said in a press release. This mission will answer questions scientists have sought to uncover for more than six decades.
The 10-foot probe will likely melt before it reaches the sun. But this may be your only chance to be represented on a spacecraft, even if it's just your name.
Visit NASAs website here to submit your name to the microchip.
William Shatner, who starred as Captain James T. Kirk in Star Trek, already added his name to the microchip, according to Space.com, and encouraged others to do the same.
"The first-ever spacecraft to the sun, NASA's Parker Solar Probe, will launch this year on a course to orbit through the heat of our star's corona, where temperatures are greater than 1 million degrees," Shatner said in NASAs promotional video on the probe, according to NBC News. "The spacecraft will also carry my name to the sun, and your name, and the names of everyone who wants to join this voyage of extreme exploration."
Scientists hope to uncover more information about the sun through the satellite.
Understanding the Sun has always been a top priority for space scientists. Studying how the Sun affects space and the space environment of planets is the field known as heliophysics. The field is not only vital to understanding Earths most important and life-sustaining star, it supports exploration in the solar system and beyond, according to the NASA press release.
NASA wont just send a device into the sun so it can melt. According to a press release, the probe will be sheltered by a nearly one-inch thick carbon-composite shield, which can withstand heat close to 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit.
The probe and shield can measure magnetic fields, energy particles and observe solar winds.
Parker Solar Probe is, quite literally, the fastest, hottest and, to me, coolest mission under the Sun, project scientist Nicola Fox, of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, said in a press release. This incredible spacecraft is going to reveal so much about our star and how it works that weve not been able to understand.
As CNN reported, NASA has invited people across the world to submit their names to be included in a microchip that will be sent to the sun as a part of the historic Parker Solar Probe mission, which will travel into the suns atmosphere so that scientists can have their first-ever close-up view of a star.
This probe will journey to a region humanity has never explored before, Thomas Zurbuchen, the associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said in a press release. This mission will answer questions scientists have sought to uncover for more than six decades.
The 10-foot probe will likely melt before it reaches the sun. But this may be your only chance to be represented on a spacecraft, even if it's just your name.
Visit NASAs website here to submit your name to the microchip.
William Shatner, who starred as Captain James T. Kirk in Star Trek, already added his name to the microchip, according to Space.com, and encouraged others to do the same.
"The first-ever spacecraft to the sun, NASA's Parker Solar Probe, will launch this year on a course to orbit through the heat of our star's corona, where temperatures are greater than 1 million degrees," Shatner said in NASAs promotional video on the probe, according to NBC News. "The spacecraft will also carry my name to the sun, and your name, and the names of everyone who wants to join this voyage of extreme exploration."
Scientists hope to uncover more information about the sun through the satellite.
Understanding the Sun has always been a top priority for space scientists. Studying how the Sun affects space and the space environment of planets is the field known as heliophysics. The field is not only vital to understanding Earths most important and life-sustaining star, it supports exploration in the solar system and beyond, according to the NASA press release.
NASA wont just send a device into the sun so it can melt. According to a press release, the probe will be sheltered by a nearly one-inch thick carbon-composite shield, which can withstand heat close to 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit.
The probe and shield can measure magnetic fields, energy particles and observe solar winds.
Parker Solar Probe is, quite literally, the fastest, hottest and, to me, coolest mission under the Sun, project scientist Nicola Fox, of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, said in a press release. This incredible spacecraft is going to reveal so much about our star and how it works that weve not been able to understand.
