well welcome and thanks for joining us
to the NASA sunset show we are coming to
you live from NASA's Kennedy Space
Center Florida well in a few hours one
of the greatest missions in history will
take place a mission to touch the Sun
all systems are go launch is scheduled
for 333 a.m. Eastern we've got lots of
coffee we've got lots of energy and we
are ready my name is Duane Brown and I
am Karen Fox and the star of the show
the Sun get it because the Sun is a star
that's true it's a star the Sun is about
to set and we are getting ready here for
that lunch and we have been talking
about this on the last few days and how
Parker Solar Probe is going to go
straight to the Sun okay I know I care
so when you look up at the Sun and look
up at the Sun with safety glasses
remember those Eclipse glasses we have
some I hope you guys have something it
looks calm and looks tranquil but when
we get close up with our space
telescopes it's dancing it's dynamic its
fury it's mad it's going a lot and when
it's doing all of this is sending out
solar particles all throughout the solar
system and these solar particles they go
out they are affecting planetary
atmospheres they can create space
weather near earth where they can
interfere with GPS and radio
communications and so this is something
that NASA wants to learn about and it
also this mission will help with our
astronauts astronauts up at the
International Space Station when they go
to the moon we're going back to the moon
ladies and gentlemen and of course
eventually to Mars all of this and much
much more we're gonna have a great show
we've got some incredible talent oh my
goodness and you need to send your
questions in the hashtag ask NASA social
media is abuzz hashtag ask NASA we're
gonna get to as many questions as we can
and we are ready you send those
questions in again hashtag ask NASA
alright let us get started we have dr.
Johnny cada Vega here with us she is a
space scientist from NASA's Goddard
Space Flight Center in Greenbelt
Maryland but you know what I gotta say
this I'm sorry Johnny the last time we
were on stage together it was last year
for the total solar eclipse across
America you guys I hope you saw that if
not it's on YouTube it's on everything
thing else
NASA YouTube it's so good to see you
it's good to see you too I know you're
excited I know I'm excited I am
I am very M it's really good to have you
here thank you for having me start off
by just telling us what space weather it
is space weather is pretty much the
conditions out in space that are
dominated by the Sun like doing say the
Sun from Earth is very quiet but when
you look at it from space it's actually
very dynamic it creates a solar storm
since forms of solar flares abrupt
eruptions of radiation or CMEs coronal
mass ejections which are expulsion of
billions of particles from the solar
corona when these storms actually arrive
on earth they can cause you know
instabilities on the earth environment
some people see this kind of
instabilities in the form of Aurora's
but when that's happened that means
there's a lot of the magnetic field is
very disturbed Parker is an essential
mission for us to understand this kind
of activity and it's gonna go straight
to the corner where this originated so
we can understand it better well you
know I'm just I'm just so excited that
you're here
IATI but you know the conditions on the
Sun are always changing you know when we
did the Eclipse I learned so much about
the Sun but how does all this affect
life here on earth it can affect a
really really directly it can affect
astronauts in space the radiation from
the Sun and it can actually affect also
satellites the instruments from the
satellites that we use for our
technology radar communications GPS
signal it can actually affect everything
that we use for our technology nowadays
so Parker is gonna be essential for us
to understand this processes it's gonna
go straight to the corona and with that
data that Park is gonna collect we can
actually validate and actually improve
our models that we use for the space
weather forecasting
Wow so this mission is very important it
is very important and it impacts just
about everybody on the planet everybody
every society there you go this mission
is definitely something for you to learn
about and do more about because it
affects every living person on earth so
we have our first question that's
already come in for you you re tell us
question is what happens if Parker Solar
Probe flies through some of these space
weather events near the Sun well that
will be very interesting to have and
actually Parker is a engineer Marvel is
actually made of to actually you know be
protected from this kind of radiation it
has a 4.5 inch heat shield that is
actually gonna protect the instruments
for in this kind of radiation and this
heat shields gonna be amazing it's
actually the one that is on the side of
the Sun it's gonna be a 2,500 degrees
Fahrenheit but the side on the
instruments gonna be actually at room
temperature so it's an amazing thing and
it hopefully will get really good data
that we actually need with this kind of
activity thank you so much we are
actually going to keep taking your
questions you can use the hashtag ask
NASA for that we will continue to take
them throughout the show and you can
also get updates on Parker Solar Probe
at nasa.gov slash Parker and of course
most importantly we want you to be get
ready to watch this launch our TV
coverage will start at 3:00 a.m.
tomorrow morning that's just in a very
few hours and you can watch that at
nasa.gov slash live well you know we've
got another person join us but I believe
I think we're going to go you know this
is a big mission and a big mission needs
a big rocket and we have a big rocket
yeah we do Launch alliances heavy delta
heavy delta 4 heavy i better get that
right because there's nothing for heavy
but it's big it's going to light up
tonight and you know what else another
person lights up tonight the sitting is
right now that's dr. Nikki Fox we have a
stall but she is our super star here so
the project scientists for this
incredible mission thank you very much
and yes our Delta Fool has just been the
building
just been rolled out and she is sitting
on the pad ready to take us to space a
big mission a big rocket mix science
what is it big science so pakka Solar
Probe is gonna make huge differences in
our science we've done so much with the
Sun from looking at it with all
different wavelengths with spacecraft in
the solar wind even as close in as
mercury but really by the time they get
to see the solar wind it's old it's it's
had all this excitement and it's it's
more much more average and so we have to
get into this region to finally be able
to unlock the mysteries of what is going
on with our star so I want to go further
into that because the solar wind is
frankly is the theme of our show today
right now a solar wind it is filling up
space it's affecting earth that's what
we're talking about so why so the corona
is full of mysteries and you really
can't unlock those mysteries without
getting the in-situ data without
actually going up and visiting all this
amazing physics is happening the corona
is 300 times hotter than the surface of
the Sun its atmosphere is continually
expanding and accelerating and streaming
away bathing all the planets and in fact
shaping our entire solar system in its
journey around the galaxy we have to get
in there to really get those physics Y
and earth do you move away from the
surface of a hot body and get hotter it
doesn't make sense it's like water
flowing uphill it shouldn't happen and
so all this physics is happening but we
need to get in there to really be able
to take those measurements and so that's
why we are doing this incredibly daring
mission to surf the Sun's corona you
know dr. Fox jadi was here talking about
space where the Harz pocket is going to
help us understand that even better
because a lot of people we hear about it
and it's so important it affects a lot
of stuff absolutely and so we do a very
good job of predicting you know we see
something happen on the Sun and we say
well this is probably what's gonna
happen here at Earth and we have models
large scale models and if you think of
taking the Sun and the earth is one big
model there's a big missing piece in
that model the physics that's driving
and powering the solar wind we don't
know
exactly what physics that is we don't
know what processes are going on and
when we add that to the already good
models we have it's just going to be
game-changing the question is if
millions of miles from the Sun surface
what part of the Sun is it touching so
it's touching the Sun's corona it is
deep in the Sun's corona
yes at 3.8 three million miles that may
not sound that close but if we put the
Earth and the Sun one meter apart parka
Solar Probe would be four centimeters
from the Sun and so not touching the
surface of the Sun obviously there is no
solid surface to actually touch but
touching deep into the atmosphere of the
star as it as it emanates away I got it
you know the four centimeters now I'm a
big football fan football season is
around the corner I heard an analogy
about the Gold Line and you know that's
Oak Park yeah put the earth in one goal
in one end zone and the Sun in the other
end zone parka Solar Probe tucks and
runs to the 4 yard line in the red zone
knocking on the door for a touchdown
let's go Ravens
[Laughter]
all right we are going to keep taking
your questions so please send them in to
hash tag as NASA we will take them
throughout the show and we're going to
have everybody come back up at the end
and answer even more of them and again
if you're just tuning in we are talking
about NASA's Parker Solar Probe a
mission to touch the Sun which is
launching just hours from now after the
Sun sets it's in the dark at 3:33 a.m.
you can start watching our coverage at
3:00 a.m. at nasa.gov slash live well we
have another star here with us Karen and
dr. Jim Spann hello he is the chief of
scientist for Helio physics so let me
take a moment and tell you
heliophysics before he gets started so
we were talking about the solar wind
right the solar wind
it affects these planetary atmospheres
it affects all of space and NASA studies
this and it's called Helio physics after
research field called Elio physics and
that is doctor spans specialty so yep
yeah yeah we have been here a long time
today so you know we get not only these
these these stars but let's talk about
Gila physics the heliosphere which
affects a lot there's a lot of these
scientific terms magenta strands gonna
break it down to you so how does all of
this fit into this Sun earth connection
that affects every human being we've
been talking about earlier so we talked
about or Nikki mentioned the fact that
Parker Solar Probe is going to go
straight in and into the inner
atmosphere of the Sun and that's really
where the solar wind is accelerated even
though we don't fully understand it
Parker's going to elucidate that fact
but it's also going to help us
understand the solar wind as it expands
and fills the space between the planets
and our solar system and what we
understand from this is that in fact the
solar system is not a vacuum there is
stuff out there and if those are
electrified gases those are charged
particles it's radiation and so as we
study that though that plasma as it and
it interacts with the rest of the
planets in the solar system that is part
of what solar video physics is about and
Parker is going to plays a key integral
to help us understand that whole system
so the science of Helio physics really
addresses the connection between the Sun
the planets were in particular our own
home planet Earth and and so we have a
flotilla of spacecraft out there over 20
spacecraft out there studying various
regions including near the earth with a
recently launched gold mission on a
commercial satellite a nikon mission
which is getting ready to be launched
it's going to study basically the
boundary between the Earth's atmosphere
and space that's really in terms of
space weather that's really where the
rubber hits the road and the impacts are
right there
we have missions that are studying the
boundary of our solar system with
interstellar
space and we have ibex we just recently
selected a new mission called IMAP all
of these things including missions
within our magnetosphere MMS is doing a
fabulous job of really trying to
understand the fundamental physics that
sparkers going to sense as it goes in
there so we have a myriad of spacecraft
[Music]
well you know he of physics has a plan
where we are going to study various
regions Parker is going to really
address the inner hemisphere as we study
that we've got a mission as I just
mentioned I'm apt to study the boundary
of the solar system with interstellar
space we've got another mission Global
dynamics coupling our constellation
which is going to be studying the
coupling between the ionosphere which is
right near the Earth's atmosphere and
the Earth's magnetosphere which is the
region that is dominated by there
something that it filled all of those
regions are key to truly understanding
the physics that that really connects
everything as well as providing an
understanding for space weather and so
that's kind of the applied component
behavior physics and we are super
excited about going after that I got to
get a question in here because you know
johnny was here we're gonna have another
incredible scientist come up and I just
got to go back to the Eclipse 600
million or more I mean just and another
thing that touched just about everyone
particularly on the United States but
Jim you know you guys have been pretty
good and a lot really busy had the
Eclipse last year you got this you cause
the solar science I mean you know
physicists ought to be like oh man we we
are we are ecstatic we are so excited
about because there are so many
different aspects of this system this
connected system to study
we've got missions addressing various
aspects and and then as the scientists a
lot of the scientists work on the
missions themselves and build the
instruments and there's an entire
community out there with young early
career folks who are studying the
modeling the connection between the two
it's it's just a very exciting time for
heliophysics I can't say enough about
that
the field I focus on for NASA and I'm
having a great time with it we do have a
question for you too before we let you
go this is from Eric on Twitter he says
I recently read about the Carrington
event in 1865 where telegraph lines
caught fire from a solar flare well
Parker Solar Probe helped us to know if
a similar event is brewing oh absolutely
as Mickey mentioned Parker is really
going to help us understand the
fundamental physics that provides this
source of the solar wind and the
explosions that are on the coming from
the Sun really understanding that
acceleration process the energy zation
process when those those events occur
and that the energy is incident on the
earth then events like Carrington I
can't occur now we've not had anything
quite as significant since then but
we've seen indications that there that
there are very large magnetic storms
have had power outages in Quebec in 1989
and so we do understand that our
technology as we as we get the as we use
our technology and space communications
we are susceptible to these sorts of
things as well as our power grid where
currents are induced in those power
lines and that's in essence what caused
those telegraph lines to catch fire and
we are trying to understand that so we
can better predict it and Solar Probe
plays a key role in that and I just want
to check on one thing but Parker Solar
Probe won't be in real time telling us
well right it's it's going to really
help us understand the fundamental
physics and in that physics as we can
put that physics into our models our
models will we become better predictors
and as we ever study all parts of this
system the data that we get from these
missions fold into the models they help
us better understand the models that
provide information which then again
drives the next mission that we need to
that we need to fly so that we can again
improve our models continue improve our
understanding as a result we will have a
better prediction for space weather well
you know Parker may not tell us in real
time but let's say we can do a real-time
picture of the launch vehicle again I
think we let's go back to their United
Launch Alliance you guys are awesome a
big rocket for a big mission with big
science we here at the sunset show
hashtag ask NASA please send your
questions in again hashtag ask NASA
social media they are exploding bring
your questions in if we can't get to
them right now and of course look at
nasa.gov slash live check that website
out the launch will be there you're
watching us here on that and much much
more
we are here at the sunset show and oh my
goodness who's here Alex yeah dr. Alex
Young another Eclipse friends I see you
went to the barber like me that's right
Alex Young is a soil scientist right
correct
nasa's goddard space flight center in
greenbelt mellon he is you got the shoes
on I do the man with the shoes you know
you have been all over the place
I mean you know you're just telling
about this star why is the star so
important well so you know Nikki and
jari and Jenna thon an amazing job
talking about the fundamental physics
that the Sun drives and creating this
heliosphere and the connectivity of all
the planets but one of the things it's
also amazing is that the Sun is a star
and so if we understand our star which
is the only star we can really look at
up close then we can understand other
stars in the universe I mean I actually
like to think of Parker Solar Probe is
not only a Helio physics mission but a
universe mission it tells us about the
universe the fundamental objects in the
universe that stars and so Niki talked a
lot about the solar wind
and the environment that it creates and
other stars have winds too we call them
stellar winds and they also create an
environment around their particular
solar systems and so understanding this
tells us about other solar systems so
this is where we know there are other
planets it tells us about the universe
in a way that we would never be able to
do so getting up close and personal
understanding this fundamental physics
is fundamental to our understanding of
the universe we live in
so I want to follow up on that let's
talk a little bit more about this
universe and what we're studying in the
universe because one of the things NASA
is really trying to do right is see if
there are other habitable planets out
there so are we saying that that Parker
Solar Probe is a connection to things
like that
absolutely absolutely heliophysics is
the fundamental science of a solar
system of a stellar system and so
understanding the interaction between a
star and all the planets is something
that only Parker and what we do in our
solar system can do for us we know that
other stars can be extremely active to
active because they blast planets with
radiation and energy or some stars can
be too cool and don't have enough energy
we live in just the right solar system
it has just the right conditions that
allow for habitability and really to
understand how that applies to
everywhere else we again have to go
there up close and personal to really
get a handle on that fundamental physics
to understand our place in this bigger
universe one other question Alex you
know NASA you know we're going back to
the moon and on to Mars moon to Mars how
is this mission and we talked earlier in
the show you know the astronauts and and
sending humans and all of the stuff that
this mission will bring all the great
sciences pretty much covers a wide field
how will Parker help those initiatives
to get us back on the moon and eventual
footprints on well you know as as my
fellow guests have talked about the the
energy that that this the corona
is driving particles to extreme energies
these particles create radiation storms
and that radiation is hazardous to
astronauts it creates a hazardous
environment so understanding how these
magnetic fields in the corona how the
solar wind is accelerated how shockwaves
are created and accelerate particles
tells us about these parking storms that
make it to earth or that make it to Mars
and create this hostile hazardous
environment for human beings traveling
in space so this is another example of
how we need to understand the
fundamental physics and this is the
spacecraft this is the mission that is
going to do that for us you know this is
a mission when people ask why should we
care we got a whole bunch of answers we
really we really do and you know this is
this is for me and I know for many of my
fellow Helio physicists an amazing
spacecraft that is you know both
honoring an amazing physicist who has
done seminal work for his entire career
which has laid the foundation for all
the science we do on top of the fact
that this project is driven by
unbelievably talented and amazing
engineers who've created this something
that people have wanted to do for 60
years
and it's going to happen tomorrow
morning in 60 years and you know the
agency's celebrating 60 years well it's
it's it's a it's a it's it's such a
great confluence of event so in 1958
Parker predicted the solar wind we had
Explorer one seeing the radiation belt
we have the beginnings of NASA we have
the committee that decided on what are
the the bucket what's the bucket list of
what NASA's gonna do and this is it
we're if we are filling the bucket you
know and so all of it is coming together
in 60 years so it is a unbelievable year
if you're just joining us we are coming
to you live from the NASA Kennedy Space
Center the sunset show and I tell you
the excitement is abuzz and send your
questions in social media you guys
hashtag ask NASA
again hashtag ask NASA and we're going
to try to answer those questions launch
is still scheduled for 333 a.m. all
right should we bring everybody else I
think we should bring everyone up right
again bring those questions in to
hashtag ask NASA and again go to the
website at nasa.gov slash live and
nasa.gov slash Parker and the spacecraft
itself it is a big spacecraft again
check everything out launch still
scheduled for Saturday morning 333 am
nasa.gov slash live and sending those
questions to hashtag ask NASA and then
we got the band back together you guys
ready I have a wonderful one from Manish
from Twitter why is NASA launching
Parker Solar Probe at night there's this
an answer I'm dying to give to them
resist the urge to say that it's less
hot so we have to launch the first thing
that we need to do is fly past the
planet Venus and so Venus has to be in
exactly the right location in the sky
for us and so for our trajectory to go
straight to Venus it's a 3:33 a.m.
launch because we actually don't have a
chance to talk about this why does it
have to go by Venus it goes bye-bye
Venus to do a gravity assist and so we
are launching with a huge launch energy
with delta 4 heavy and then we have the
upper stage that gives us 55% of our
launch energy when we're outside the
atmosphere but we're going very fast we
want to be able to turn and make sure
that we are going in towards Venus sorry
in towards the Sun we don't want to be
dragged around at all by the influence
of the earth and so we use Venus to kind
of give us a little handbrake turn it
slows us down just a little bit and
really turns that orbit in towards the
focus is it
take the microphone this time all right
this is a question for Alex standing
behind me this is about the coronal
heating problem the question is are our
most accurate models of the Sun too
complex to run on computers or is it
really that scientistic scientists
expect that our models are missing of
fundamental pieces well so you know we
have a couple of we have a couple of
theories that do a very good job of
explaining some of the aspects of
coronal heating so one of the aspects
that we're looking forward to is really
to gather the data we need to really pin
it down we know that there's magnetic
energy released in the corona there's
waves there's little tiny explosions
that actually Eugene Parker coined
nanoflares so is it a combination of
those is it one or the other what are
the details of this theory so it's it's
really a matter of fine-tuning the knobs
of the physics to understand what's
going on I don't know if you want to
elaborate on that at all or okay can I
actually ask a question somebody tweeted
me and I want to ask you the question
it's not a hard question but it's a cool
it's a cool question no pun intended
why is the corona millions of degrees
with the front of the spacecraft's only
2500 degrees so that's a great question
so three billion degree plasma but it's
not very dense it's a very very tenuous
atmosphere and so there just aren't a
lot of particles there to be able to
transfer the heat into the spacecraft
most of our heating comes from the
photons from the Sun which is why we
have a whiter than white coating on the
front of the heat shield on a Florida
day like we've had today I'm really glad
I have a white rental car and not a
black one and so the white actually
helps to reflect off a lot of the energy
and so what actually couples in comes up
to about 2500 degrees Fahrenheit but the
rest of the spacecraft as Yuri noted is
at a very balmy 85 degrees Fahrenheit
like right now I'm gonna follow up on
that question with another one from
Bhargava of Twitter how does the
spacecraft make sure the shield stays
facing the Sun she is the smartest
spacecraft ever no she we put a ton of
we like fault management or autonomy it
takes light eight minutes to get from
the Sun to the earth so there's no way
that we could joystick this spacecraft
if something bad happens
she has minutes to respond so everything
is programmed into that spacecraft and
that's one of the reasons we've had to
wait so long to do this this type of
mission in order to have miniaturization
and the technology to enable us to do it
think of what you hold in your hand with
an iPhone compared to what was available
in 1958 there are little Sun sensors all
around the body they're not supposed to
see the Sun when one of them does she
goes oh I'm not supposed to see that and
starts firing thrusters to kind of write
that anomaly so she's very fiercely
independent of course I mean it's very
it's it's it's it's okay dr. Eugene
pocket I mean just amazing right I mean
yes amazing and I actually got to take
him up on the pad today and he stood in
front of that enormous delta 4 heavy
that is carrying his legacy up to the
Sun and so it's very it was very
emotional
he is just the loveliest man I said in
every interview I've done humble
gracious and forever
telling telling people that it's it's
other people who deserve the praise not
him
and yet as Thomas sebou Cohen pointed
out 35 NASA missions have flown that a
you know really have gone after his
science and that's a huge thing so
having one that bears his name is
awesome and this is the first time yes a
historic thing first time NASA's ever
named a mission after somebody during
their lifetime and it was a lovely
moment yesterday when when Thomas said
you know and the person that it's named
after is sitting in the room right over
there there was a very cool moment
Nikki foxpro I don't think as Jean
Parker and so I'd love it but I don't
think it's gonna happen well your
superstar y'all a superstar and I think
they're so I've been fiddling with my
finger I keep saying the Eclipse guys
you know and I got I got 3d so you know
let's let's pass these out and we got we
got a couple more here you know it's
it's the Sun is setting and quite
frankly that we have everyone so so
here's one for it the Sun is setting for
those if you're just joining us you
missed a treat but you'll be able to see
replace this is our sunset show and
historic mission is going to take place
this morning in the wee hours launch
time is scheduled to start at 3:33 a.m.
the Sun is setting on a spacecraft and
in fact this will be the last sunset the
Parker Solar Probe will oversee and in
honor of XI
we're gonna we're gonna put on our Clips
glasses and we're going to do one thing
and give a shout out on three two one
with three two one go
[Applause]