Category: Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering
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Parker Solar Probe: ‘We’re missing something fundamental about the sun’
First data holds clues to a decades-old mystery, and major implications for space weather prediction
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Why sea level rise models have been wrong
A Q&A with Jeremy Bassis, an expert on ice dynamics and contributing author of the IPCC’s latest report.
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East Coast cities emitting twice as much methane as EPA estimated
The first study to examine natural gas losses across many cities suggests leaky pipes and inefficient appliances are major culprits. – By Theo Stein, NOAA
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Solving the sun’s super-heating mystery with Parker Solar Probe
Probe will go where no spacecraft has gone and measure a process never directly observed before.
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Solve for life
Racing to unlock the equations that could save the Amazon – and us all.
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U-M researchers to help unravel Mercury, solar system mysteries
In ESA’s BepiColombo mission, an examination of the particles in Mercury’s upper atmosphere will shed light on what the planet is made of.
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Touching the Sun to protect the Earth
A Q&A with Justin Kasper on going where no probe has gone before.
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Part 7: The end of the mission
The clock on the Parker Solar Probe will start ticking when it runs out of fuel used to make the attitude adjustments necessary to keep the craft’s key components protected behind the heat shield.
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Part 6: The big send-off
The power and fuel capacity of the Delta IV, along with an eventual gravity assist from Venus, will get the solar probe velocity down to a point where it can orbit the sun.
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Part 5: Sunblock and instrumentation
The extreme conditions of the corona are one of the main reasons a solar probe mission like this hasn’t been undertaken before. But Parker features a series of innovations that will allow the probe to get close enough to do what needs to be done.
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Part 4: Using the gravity of Venus to reach the sun
While NASA never intended for the probe to return to Earth, Venus represents a point of no return.
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Part 3: Parker’s record-breaking ride
The probe will make multiple passes through the corona, utilizing seven gravity assists from Venus to bring its orbits closer and closer to the sun.