NASA names next solar mission after pioneer solar scientist Eugene Parker
NASA has named its next solar mission, which will fly closer to the Sun than any previous mission, after pioneer solar scientist Eugene Parker, who in the 1950s predicted the existence of the solar wind.
The new moniker honors pioneering University of Chicago astrophysicist Eugene Parker, who predicted the existence of the solar wind — the stream of charged particles flowing constantly from the sun — back in 1958. [Solar Quiz: How Well Do You Know Our Sun?]
NASA has named about 20 space missions after people; the Hubble Space Telescope is perhaps the most famous example. But the 89-year-old Parker is the first researcher to be celebrated in this manner while still alive, agency officials said.
Parker deserves it, for sure, and it is really nice to honor him while he is still alive to appreciate it.
The spacecraft is scheduled to launch at the end of July.
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NASA has named its next solar mission, which will fly closer to the Sun than any previous mission, after pioneer solar scientist Eugene Parker, who in the 1950s predicted the existence of the solar wind.
The new moniker honors pioneering University of Chicago astrophysicist Eugene Parker, who predicted the existence of the solar wind — the stream of charged particles flowing constantly from the sun — back in 1958. [Solar Quiz: How Well Do You Know Our Sun?]
NASA has named about 20 space missions after people; the Hubble Space Telescope is perhaps the most famous example. But the 89-year-old Parker is the first researcher to be celebrated in this manner while still alive, agency officials said.
Parker deserves it, for sure, and it is really nice to honor him while he is still alive to appreciate it.
The spacecraft is scheduled to launch at the end of July.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
BSJ, Yes, I wrote up a rather detailed analysis of my concerns a while back, I think the last time Rob posted a Stratolaunch update. It all boils down to that single wing joining the two halves of the plane together. Any number of malfunctions or atmospheric conditions could cause the aircraft to sheer apart, mainly as I see it, by one fuselage pitching up and the other down and the wing just twisting to pieces. A joined tail like on the P-38 would help eliminate this instability. But it appears that the beast’s designers appear to be more focused on making the plane look like the White Knight carrier for Spaceship 1, rather then building a safe, stable aircraft.
To Rob, I appear to have posted the above in the wrong topic. Would you be kind enough to remove the reply or move it and I’ll post it again in the Stratolaunch topic if my reply can’t be moved.
Gealon: I can’t move your comment easily. Cut and paste into a new comment in the right thread.
By the way, no one refers to me as “Rob” except very close relatives. Have we met? :)
We unfortunately have not Mr. Zimmerman.
Apologies for the trouble, I posted the comment in the correct topic.
I feel as though I should jump in here and prevent this comment thread from becoming completely off-topic.
I agree that honoring the living is superior to honoring the dead, but that the latter is better than not honoring them at all. Happily, Dr. Parker is around to enjoy this latest plaudit.
Heliophysics is so to speak always put in the shadow. I suppose it is hard to sell because the Sun is such an absurd object. Rocks are easier to relate to.
I think it’s good to name spacecrafts after people who are still living. As long as it is not politically related, we don’t want to see the cult of personality of socialist countries. If for no other reason, we are seriously running out of historical astronomers! And so much progress has been done in the recent decades. Good theories must be rewarded quickly, before they are disproven by better theories.
The Nobel Prize committee is very particular with the prize winner having to be alive. But there was some mayor in Texas who got elected although he was dead. He is said to have run the worst campaign ever except for HRC, and still he won. And in France you can get married after your death! Recently happened to a gay policeman who was murdered by muslims. (Doesn’t one have to say “I do”?)
A few decades ago, I read an article in one of my father’s old science fiction magazines (perhaps Amazing Stories or Analog) that, in the mid 1950s, described a solar probe similar to the Parker Solar Probe. The author proposed a mirror finish on the sun-side to reflect the sun’s heat and to shade the rest of the probe, a conical shape that matched the probe’s distance from the sun so that the conical sides were not lit by the edges of the sun (the limb), thermal radiators on the conical sides to cool the probe, and instruments that peeked out from behind the sun-side shade.