Spacewatch: Firing up for a close encounter with the sun-World Hot Events

After lift-off, set for Saturday, Nasa’s solar probe starts its six-year flight to within 3.8m miles of the sun – the nearest visit yet

Nasa’s Parker Solar Probe is now on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Its launch window will open at 3.48am (eastern daylight time, or 7.48am Greenwich mean time) on Saturday 11
August. Protected by a sophisticated heat shield the probe is designed to go closer to the sun than any previous spacecraft.

The probe’s mission is to dip into the solar atmosphere and deduce how the rarefied gasses there are heated to millions of degrees centigrade when the solar surface itself is just 6,000°C.

Following the launch the spacecraft will head towards Venus. Arriving on 2 October, it will use the gravity of the planet to then redirect towards the sun. Its first close solar approach will be on 5 November. This first pass will take place at a distance of 15m miles.

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