High-Level Project Summary
We were presented with the objective of telling an interesting story of Parker Solar probe's encounter with Sun. In our project, we focused on the issues the probe had to face and how to solve them.We prepared a slideshow for this. The engineering of probe managed to achieve protection from immense temperature of sun. Enough energy was achieved using Venus'energy. Thirdly, SolarWinds interfere with radio signals, So probe is designed in a way that it goes into cruise mode on getting close to Sun and stops transmitting data. A gyroscope keeps the probe balanced. These solutions are necessary for normal functioning of the Parker's probe.
Link to Final Project
Link to Project "Demo"
Detailed Project Description
We were presented with the objective of coming up with an engaging way to tell a riveting story of Parker Solar probe's encounter with the Sun. In our project, we focused on the issues the probe had to face on its way to the Sun; for instance, the communication gaps, intense temperatures, counter forces of gravity and solar winds as well as the energy requirements to reach the sun. We demonstrated the solutions to these problems through a slideshow
We prepared a slideshow to demonstrate how we can cope with these aforementioned challenges. The quintessential engineering of probe managed to achieve this phenomenal act by preparing a heat shield made of ultramet carbon foam sandwiched between two layers of carbon composite. Surprisingly enough, this shield can bear the temperature of 2500 degrees Kelvin.
The next challenge at hand was how to provide probe with enough energy for such a long distance mission. Scientists provided it with gravity assisted thrusts using 7 venus flybys. With every flyby, the orbital distance of the Parker's probe will go on decreasing and it will get closer and closer to the sun. This will provide us with an impeccable chance to delve deeper into solar atmosphere and study it in further detail.
Thirdly, getting this close to the sun posed considerable threats to the communication of probe with earth. Solarwinds are strong enough to cause disruption and interference with the radio signals. For this purpose, probe is designed in a way to be utterly autonomous in such cases. So, whenever the probe gets close to the sun, the antennas close; it goes into cruise mode and stops transmitting data. However, it keeps collecting data until it's able to establish connection with computers on earth again.
Lastly, the immense amount of unbalanced forces acting on the probe was a significant issue on its own. It requires it to keep changing its orbit depending on the strength of a given force i.e solar gravity and solarwinds . Furthermore, Parker probe is equipped with a gyroscope to always keep it at a certain angle to prevent burn up of its posterior surface.
Space Agency Data
We used data from NASA's official website to understand the threats that are posed to the Parker probe by the Sun. Our main objective was to tell young audiences about the challenges the probe had to face. For instance NASA's data helped us demonstrate the devastating impacts of sun's extreme temperature on Parker probe and how it copes with it with the help of a heat shield that can endure the temperature of upto 2500 degrees Fahrenheit. In a similar way, we listed all the other dangers it had to face and the way the probe coped with them efficiently, all backed up with scientific facts and figures.
Hackathon Journey
This event has been an interesting challenge to improve our critical thinking and collaboration skills. As a team we feel like our experience and exposure has increased. It also gave us a chance to meet exceptional mentors on the panel. We chose the challenge of "On the Way to Sun" because touching the sun is itself a huge achievement and we wanted to make people aware regarding this. We approached this project from a problem solving perspective. For this, we'd like to thank all the mentors who helped us in this journey.
References
NASA's official website
Parker probe's official website
Space.com website
APS.org website
The links to the articles we used to prepare slides are following:
http://parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu/The-Mission/index.php
https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/weather-atmosphere/space-weather#:~:text=Space%20weather%20impacts%20Earth&text=Strong%20solar%20storms%20can%20cause,in%20Earth%27s%20varying%20magnetic%20field
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/parker-solar-probe-offers-a-stunning-view-of-venus
https://www.space.com/40437-parker-solar-probe.html
https://www.space.com/dust-impacts-parker-solar-probe-plasma-explosions
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/sun/parker-solar-probe-captures-its-first-images-of-venus-surface-in-visible-light-confirmed
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/Gallery/ParkerSolarProbe.html
http://parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu/Multimedia/Images.php
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/nasa-enters-the-solar-atmosphere-for-the-first-time-bringing-new-discoveries
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/traveling-to-the-sun-why-won-t-parker-solar-probe-melt
https://spacephysics.princeton.edu/news/publication-debris-cloud-liberated-dust-impact-parker-solar-probe
https://physics.aps.org/articles/v14/176
https://www.eoportal.org/satellite-missions/psp#parker-solar-probe---former-spp-solar-probe-plus-spacecraft-mission
Tags
#sun #parkersolarprobe #parkerprobe #touchingthesun #onthewaytosun