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Scientists in Wales Help Nasa Get Closer to the Sun

Posted on: Monday, 26 July 2004, 06:00 CDT

Man has worshipped the Sun for centuries, but now Welsh scientists are helping space organisation Nasa get closer than ever before to the star at the centre of our solar system.: Heat a challenge:The decision to revive the mission to fly around the Sun was taken earlier this week at an international conference. A new vision for Solar Probe was outlined by the project's team at a space exploration conference in Paris.

But building a spacecraft that can survive repeated flybys of the Sun poses significant challenges.

'In order to go close to the Sun and make measurements, you have to deal with the incredible heat that you have there,' said team member David McComas, of the Southwest Research Institute in Texas.

Proposals for solar missions go back to 1958 but as the political climate changes, the missions must change accordingly. 'Nasa is currently pretty risk-averse, so we can't take too many risks. This has to be as low-risk as you can make a mission to go within four or five solar radii of the Sun,' said Dr McComas.

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