A NASA space probe, designed in part at the University of Iowa, was launched Sunday on a mission to the sun. U-I physicist Jasper Halekas, a co-investigator on the Parker Solar Probe, says his main experiment is focused on what’s known as the solar wind.
*
Halekas’ helped to design SWEAP, which stands for Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons. It’s housed in three clusters of instruments onboard the spacecraft. With a reflective heat shield comprised mostly of carbon foam, the compact car-sized probe is built to withstand the incredibly scorching heat of the sun.
*
The front of the heat shield will have to withstand temperatures of around 25-hundred degrees Fahrenheit. The cooling system is so amazingly efficient that the back of the spacecraft, in the shadow of the heat shield, will be below room temperature.