Solar Probe Plus: NASA to announce landmark mission to touch Sun's atmosphere

Solar Probe Plus is likely to be launched in 2018 and the resulting data will improve forecasts of major space weather events that impact life on Earth.

nasa, Solar Probe Plus, solar atmosphere, space, — This illustrations depicts the Solar Probe Plus spacecraft leaving Earth, after separating from its launch vehicle and booster rocket, bound for the inner Solar Probe Plus and an unprecedented study of the Sun.JHU/APL

A huge announcement regarding an unprecedented mission will be made by NASA on Wednesday, May 31.

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According to reports, the announcement is about sending a spacecraft into the Sun's atmosphere. The mission, dubbed Solar Probe Plus, is likely to be launched in the summer of 2018.

"Solar Probe Plus will pass within four million miles of the Sun - that's almost eight times closer to the Sun than the orbit of Mercury - and provide incredible detail on the dynamic solar atmosphere," according to Jonathan Lunine, the director of the Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science at Cornell University.

NASA records X-Class solar flare in February 2014 — NASA

"Solar Probe Plus will fly closer to the Sun than the distance at which even close-in exoplanets orbit their own Suns, giving us unprecedented information on the kinds of environments these planets experience," he added.

This will be the first time a spacecraft will be exposed to the extreme levels of radiation and heat while it investigates the solar surface and unveils unknown facts about Sun and its functioning.

The resulting data will improve forecasts of major space weather events that impact life on Earth, as well as satellites and astronauts in space.