The thermal screen of the Parker sun probe rises and is rebuilt to a new location. Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory engineers are preparing to install an 8-foot heat shield (June 27, 2018)
Every day the launch of the Parker solar probe (the mission should go as close as possible to the Sun) is approaching implementation. On June 27, 2018, a TPS heat shield was installed on the spacecraft.
The mission, for which they were preparing for 60 years, will make a historic journey to the solar crown - a section of the star's atmosphere. With the help of a revolutionary heat shield, which is attached to the device in preparation for launch in August 2018, the ship’s orbit will approach at a distance of 4 million miles from the hot solar surface. The device will be able to obtain unprecedented data on the internal functions of the crown.
An 8-foot heat shield will protect all mechanisms within its shadow. When approaching, the temperature on it will reach 2500 degrees Fahrenheit, but the device and its instruments will feel at a relatively comfortable temperature of about 85 degrees Fahrenheit.
The heat shield is based on two panels of superheated carbon-carbon composite with a 4.5-inch core of carbon film. The side turned to the Sun is also made of white to reflect the maximum amount of stellar energy.
The thermal protection system is connected to a custom beam on the Parker spacecraft at six points to minimize thermal conductivity
The heat shield itself weighs about 160 pounds on Earth, and the core is 97% air. Parker will move at a speed of 430,000 miles per hour, so the shield and the spacecraft must be light to reach the desired orbit.
In the autumn of 2017, the thermal protection system was reinstalled, and the probe was fully integrated. The heat shield and the apparatus were tested and tested separately at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center before being sent to Titusville (Florida) in April 2018.
The heat shield is made on the basis of two panels of superheated carbon-carbon composite with a 4.5-inch core of carbon film. The side turned to the Sun is also made of white to reflect the maximum amount of stellar energy
The Parker probe is part of the NASA Life with a Star program, which studies aspects of the Earth-Sun system interaction.
