Solar Probe Plus
Artist’s impression of NASA’s Solar Probe Plus spacecraft on approach to the sun.
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| Names | Solar Probe+ NASA Solar Probe |
|---|---|
| Mission type | Solar heliophysics orbiter |
| Operator | NASA / Applied Physics Laboratory |
| Website | solarprobe.jhuapl.edu |
| Mission duration | 6 years, 321 days (planned) |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Manufacturer | Applied Physics Laboratory |
| Launch mass | 610 kg |
| Dry mass | 555 kg |
| Payload mass | ~50 kg |
| Dimensions | 1 m wide, 3 m tall, 2.3 m heat shield |
| Power | 343 Watts at closest approach |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | July 31, 2018 (planned). |
| Rocket | Delta IV Heavy |
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral SLC-37 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Heliocentric |
| Perihelion | 6.0 Gm (3,700,000 mi) |
| Apohelion | 109.3 Gm (67,900,000 mi) |
| Inclination | 3.4° |
| Period | 88 days |
| Flyby of Venus | |
| Closest approach | September 27, 2018 |
| Flyby of Venus | |
| Closest approach | December 21, 2019 |
| Flyby of Venus | |
| Closest approach | July 5, 2020 |
| Flyby of Venus | |
| Closest approach | February 15, 2021 |
| Flyby of Venus | |
| Closest approach | October 10, 2021 |
| Flyby of Venus | |
| Closest approach | August 15, 2023 |
| Flyby of Venus | |
| Closest approach | October 31, 2024 |
| Sun orbiter | |
| Orbital insertion | December 19, 2024 (first close approach) |
| Transponders | |
| Band |
Ka band X band |
| Instruments | |
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SWEAP suite: Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons Investigation SPC: Solar Probe Cup SPAN: Solar Probe Analyzers WISPR: Wide-field Imager for Solar Probe FIELDS suite: Electromagnetic Fields Investigation Electric Field Antennas (4) Fluxgate Magnetometers (2) Search Coil Magnetometer ISIS‒EPI suite: Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun Energetic Particle Instruments I‒EPI‒Hi: ISIS Energetic Particle Instrument — High I‒EPI‒Lo: ISIS Energetic Particle Instrument — Low |
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Solar Probe Plus or Solar Probe+, previously NASA Solar Probe, is a planned robotic spacecraft to probe the outer corona of the Sun. It will approach to within 8.5 solar radii (5.9 million kilometers or 3.67 million miles) to the 'surface' (photosphere) of the Sun. The project was announced as a new mission start in the fiscal 2009 budget year. On May 1, 2008 Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory announced it will design and build the spacecraft, on a schedule to launch it in 2015. The launch date has since been pushed back to 2018, with the Delta IV Heavy as the launch vehicle.
Early conceptual designs for the Solar Probe mission used a gravity assist maneuver at Jupiter to cancel the orbital speed of the probe launched from Earth, in order to drop onto a trajectory close to the Sun. The Solar Probe Plus mission design simplifies this trajectory by using repeated gravity assists at Venus, to incrementally decrease the orbital perihelion to achieve multiple passes to approximately 8.5 solar radii, or about 6,000,000 km (3,700,000 mi).
The mission is designed to survive the harsh environment near the Sun, where the incident solar intensity is approximately 520 times the intensity at Earth orbit, by the use of a solar shadow-shield. The solar shield, at the front of the spacecraft, is made of reinforced carbon-carbon composite. The spacecraft systems, and the scientific instruments, are located in the umbra of the shield, where direct light from the sun is fully blocked. The primary power for the mission will be by use of a dual system of photovoltaic arrays. A primary photovoltaic array, used for the portion of the mission outside 0.25 AU, is retracted behind the shadow shield during the close approach to the Sun, and a much smaller secondary array powers the spacecraft through closest approach. This secondary array uses pumped-fluid cooling to maintain operating temperature.
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