為什么NASA想要“觸摸太陽”

為什么NASA想要“觸摸太陽”

The sun, the very centerpiece of our solar system and the most important source of energy for life on Earth, has a visitor.

太陽是太陽系的中心，也是地球上生命最重要的能量來源。

NASA's Parker Solar Probe, as seen in this illustration, will eventually fy to within 4 million miles of the sun's surface. (Photo: NASA, Steve Gribben)

NASA's Parker Solar Probe has been studying the sun, flying closer than ever before, and making incredible new discoveries with each new visit. The latest visit, which NASA scientists have described in several papers just published in the journal Nature, has revealed never-before-seen characteristics of the solar wind at its birthplace, information that can help us understand why solar winds can be so turbulent and, at times, destructive to modern life on Earth.

NASA的帕克太陽探測器一直在研究太陽，比以往任何時候都飛得更近，并在每次新的訪問中都有令人難以置信的新發(fā)現(xiàn)。最近的一次訪問，美國宇航局的科學(xué)家描述在剛剛發(fā)表在“自然”雜志上的幾篇論文中，揭示了太陽風(fēng)在其發(fā)源地從未見過的特征，這些信息可以幫助我們理解太陽風(fēng)為什么可以如此動蕩不安，有時還會破壞地球上的現(xiàn)代生活。

Why this mission is a big deal

為什么這次任務(wù)如此重要

At Cape Canaveral, the Delta IV Heavy rocket with NASA’s Parker Solar Probe lifts off at 3:31 a.m. EDT on Aug. 12, 2018. (Photo: NASA/Kim Shiflett)

The probe achieved a milestone in October 2018 by becoming the closest man-made object to the sun. The previous record was held by the German-U.S. Helios 2 satellite, which was 26.55 million miles from the sun. Over the next several years, the probe will orbit closer to the sun with the closest approach being 3.83 million miles away.

2018年10月，探測器成為離太陽最近的人造物體，達(dá)到了一個里程碑。此前的紀(jì)錄由德美兩國保持。太陽神2號衛(wèi)星，距離太陽2655萬英里。在接下來的幾年里，探測器的軌道將更靠近太陽，最近的距離為383萬英里。

The probe is named after astrophysicist Eugene Parker, the S. Chandrasekhar Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago, who discovered the phenomenon now known as solar wind.

該探測器以天體物理學(xué)家尤金·帕克的名字命名。帕克是芝加哥大學(xué)天文學(xué)和天體物理學(xué)系的名譽教授，他發(fā)現(xiàn)了現(xiàn)在被稱為太陽風(fēng)的現(xiàn)象。

This is the first time NASA has named a mission after a living individual, a testament to Parker's vast body of work.

這是NASA第一次以活人的名字來命名一項任務(wù)，這是帕克大量工作的證明。

As the Parker Solar Probe makes its approach to the sun, it will experience temperatures outside its heat shield of nearly 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit. (Photo: NASA/Steve Gribben)

Unlike the Greek legend Icarus, whose wings melted when he flew too close to the sun, NASA's new spacecraft came prepared. To protect its instruments from temperatures approaching 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit (1,426 degrees Celsius), the Parker Solar Probe (which was originally named the Solar Probe Plus) features an 8-foot-wide, 4.5-inch-thick carbon-composite foam shield called the Thermal Protection System (TPS).

與希臘傳奇人物伊卡洛斯(Icarus)不同的是，當(dāng)他飛得太靠近太陽時，他的翅膀就會融化。為了保護(hù)它的儀器不受接近2600華氏度(1426攝氏度)的溫度的影響，帕克太陽能探測器(它最初的名字是太陽能探測器+)有一個8英尺寬，4.5英寸厚的碳復(fù)合泡沫護(hù)罩，叫做熱保護(hù)系統(tǒng)(TPS)。

At that point, the Parker Solar Probe will make history by becoming the fastest man-made object ever. Its closest approach to the sun will send the spacecraft speeding along at a record-breaking 450,000 miles per hour. "That's fast enough to get from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., in one second," NASA added.

屆時，帕克太陽能探測器將創(chuàng)造歷史，成為有史以來最快的人造物體。它最接近太陽的時候?qū)⒁詣?chuàng)記錄的45萬英里每小時的速度飛行。NASA補充說:“這足以在一秒鐘內(nèi)從費城到達(dá)華盛頓特區(qū)。”

Exposing the sun's secrets

揭露太陽的秘密

The then-named Solar Probe Plus, seen here in April 2017, is constructed in the cleanroom at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. (Photo: NASA)

In addition to sending a spacecraft into uncharted, scorching territory above a star, NASA also has a series of scientific objectives to accomplish. These include a study of the causes behind the sun's wildly different temperatures (i.e., an atmospheric temperature range of 3.5 million F vs. a surface temperature of "only" 10,000 degrees F) and the forces behind its solar wind and energetic particles that impact Earth and the solar system.

除了向一顆恒星上方未知的、灼熱的區(qū)域發(fā)射航天器外，NASA還需要完成一系列的科學(xué)目標(biāo)。其中包括對太陽溫度差異巨大的原因的研究。在美國，大氣溫度范圍為350萬華氏度，而表面溫度“僅”為1萬華氏度)，以及太陽風(fēng)和高能粒子背后影響地球和太陽系的力量。

"There are a few major mysteries with the sun and the solar wind," SPP project scientist Nicola Fox told Vice. "One is that the corona — the atmosphere that you see around the Sun during a solar eclipse — is actually hotter than the surface of the sun. So, that kind of defies the laws of physics. It just shouldn't happen."

SPP項目的科學(xué)家尼古拉·?？怂垢嬖VVice:“關(guān)于太陽和太陽風(fēng)有幾個主要的謎團(tuán)。”“一個是日冕——你在日食期間看到的圍繞太陽的大氣——實際上比太陽表面更熱。這就違背了物理定律。這是不應(yīng)該發(fā)生的。”

NASA researchers hope the data gained from this mission will not only enable a greater understanding of how stars like our sun work, but also provide answers that might better protect against potentially catastrophic solar storms.

美國國家航空航天局的研究人員希望，從這次任務(wù)中獲得的數(shù)據(jù)不僅能更好地了解像我們的太陽這樣的恒星是如何工作的，而且還能提供可能更好地防止?jié)撛诘臑?zāi)難性太陽風(fēng)暴的答案。

"Many of the systems we in the modern world rely on — our telecommunications, GPS, satellites and power grids — could be disrupted for an extended period of time if a large solar storm were to happen today," Justin C. Kasper, principal investigator at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, told Popular Mechanics. "Solar Probe Plus will help us predict and manage the impact of space weather on society."

“在現(xiàn)代世界中，我們所依賴的許多系統(tǒng)--我們的電信、gps、衛(wèi)星和電網(wǎng)--如果發(fā)生大太陽風(fēng)暴，可能會中斷很長一段時間。今天，史密森天體物理天文臺的首席研究員賈斯丁·卡斯珀告訴《大眾力學(xué)》。”太陽探測器加號將幫助我們預(yù)測和管理空間天氣對地球的影響。”