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The launch is scheduled for July 31. NASA's Parker Solar Probe - humanity's first mission to the Sun - is undergoing final preparations for its launch scheduled for July 31. The
spacecraft was flown by the US Air Force to Florida, where it will continue testing, and eventually undergo final assembly and mating to the third stage of the Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle.
Parker Solar Probe is humanity's first mission to the Sun. After launch, it will orbit directly through the solar atmosphere - the corona - closer to the surface than any human-made
object has ever gone. While facing brutal heat and radiation, the mission will reveal fundamental science behind what drives the solar wind, the constant outpouring of material from the Sun
that shapes planetary atmospheres and affects space weather near Earth. For the next several months, the spacecraft will undergo comprehensive testing. Just prior to being fuelled, one of
the most critical elements of the spacecraft, the thermal protection system (TPS), or heat shield, will be installed. The TPS is the breakthrough technology that will allow Parker Solar
Probe to survive the temperatures in the Sun's corona, just 9.8 million kilometres from the surface of our star. "There are many milestones to come for Parker Solar Probe and the
amazing team of men and women who have worked so diligently to make this mission a reality," said Andy Driesman, Parker Solar Probe project manager from the Johns Hopkins Applied
Physics Laboratory in the US. > Our mission to touch the Sun has arrived in the Sunshine State! > Parker #SolarProbe is now undergoing final preparations for its > launch from
@NASAKennedy on July 31. https://t.co/sCZ7Z7gUOc > pic.twitter.com/M7CoRfRz1r > — NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) April 7, 2018 > Parker #SolarProbe has arrived in Florida to start
final > preparations for its launch to the Sun, scheduled for July 31! > https://t.co/sCZ7Z7gUOc pic.twitter.com/gGBapV4fZN > — NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) April 6, 2018
"The installation of the TPS will be our final major step before encapsulation and integration onto the launch vehicle," said Driesman. Parker Solar Probe will be launched from
NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Throughout its seven-year mission, Parker Solar Probe will explore the Sun's outer atmosphere and make critical observations to answer
decades-old questions about the physics of stars. Its data will also be useful in improving forecasts of major eruptions on the Sun and the subsequent space weather events that impact
technology on Earth, as well as satellites and astronauts in space.