NASA Looking to Send Spacecraft 1,000 AUs Away from Earth Written 28 April 2021
Artist's concept of NASA's Voyager spacecraft. | NASA/JPL-Caltech
The Daily Mail (UK) reports that NASA has unveiled a plan to send a spacecraft, currently named the Interstellar Probe, 1,000 astronomical units (AUs) – or approximately 92 billion miles – away from Earth in the 2030s. During the mission, the spacecraft “will examine the heliosphere, planets and more.” Probe lead Elena Provornikova said, “For the first time, we will take a picture of our vast heliosphere from the outside to see what our solar system home looks like.” Some “mysteries the team hopes to solve with the mission include how the sun’s plasma interacts with interstellar gas to create our heliosphere; what lies beyond our heliosphere; and what our heliosphere even looks like.” Provornikova “and her colleagues will discuss the heliophysics science opportunities for the mission at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly 2021.”
Full Story (Daily Mail)