NASA collaborates with US Navy to produce images of the sun

Air December 12, 2019

NASA worked with the Naval Research laboratory (NRL) to produce detailed images of the sun with a solar probe.

The NRL’s Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe (WISPR) took detailed images of the sun on NASA’s Parker Solar Probe mission. Images captured include the dust-free zone around the sun, magnetic flux ropes, a magnetic island around the sun, and detailed plasma eruptions.

Developed by the NRL, WISPR uses two cameras to record visible-light images of the solar outflow and solar corona. The Navy invested in the project as it uses records of solar winds to analyse their potential impact on GPS, ground-based power grids, and spacecraft operations.

NRL astrophysicist and principal WISPR investigator Russ Howard said: “The images help in the modeling of the behavior and the transport of the solar wind to Earth. They allow us to develop more accurate models by putting proper physics in the models.”

“We’re explorers and we’re getting in closer and closer until we’re finally at the Sun. You’re going to see things that we can’t even imagine.”

Parker Solar Probe recently completed its third perihelion, or closest approach to the Sun. In 2024, the Parker Solar Probe is expected to have travelled 96% of the distance to the Sun.

The Parker Solar Probe is a robotic spacecraft NASA launched in August 2018, whose mission is repeatedly probing and making observations of the outer corona of the Sun. WISPR is one of four instruments on Parker Solar Probe.

The probe will continue making regular trips around the sun for the next few years, capturing new images of the star. The NRL cameras cover over 100-degrees angular width from the sun.

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GPS Imaging NASA Naval Research Space transport US Navy