All articles tagged with #solar science
The ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) has celebrated 30 years of continuous solar observation, overcoming challenges and revolutionizing solar science, space weather monitoring, and comet discovery, while inspiring future missions and international collaboration.
NASA's Parker Solar Probe is set for its final Venus flyby on November 6, 2024, which will adjust its trajectory for a record-breaking close approach to the sun on December 24, 2024. This maneuver will bring the probe within 3.86 million miles of the solar surface, the closest any human-made object has been to the sun. The flyby also aims to gather more data on Venus's surface, following surprising findings from previous flybys using the WISPR instrument, which captured near-infrared images through Venus's clouds.
NASA engineers at the Goddard Space Flight Center are developing photon sieves, a technology that can focus extreme ultraviolet light, to capture small-scale features near the surface of the Sun. These sieves, made from super-thin membranes etched with precise holes, can resolve features 10 to 50 times smaller than what can currently be seen. The engineers have successfully produced silicon and niobium sieves, with the latter transmitting up to seven times more light. The technology will be tested in the VISORS CubeSat mission in 2024 and could pave the way for larger future missions.