NASA's first mission to Sun to launch in July

NASA's Parker Solar Probe - Humanity's first mission to the Sun - is expected to launch on July 31 this year. The mission is in its final leg of preparations.

The spacecraft will undergo a final assembly procedure and will be attached to the third stage of the Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle.

Post-launch, it will orbit directly through the solar atmosphere, closer to the surface than any human-made object has ever gone.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

The mission is expected to reveal the fundamentals of the solar wind which is characterised by the constant outpouring of material from the Sun that shapes planetary atmospheres and affects space weather near Earth.

Throughout its seven-year mission, Parker Solar Probe will explore Sun's outer atmosphere and make critical observations to answer decades-old questions about the physics of stars.

The spacecraft will undergo comprehensive testing in the months to come before its final launch. A thermal protection system (TPS), or heat shield, will be installed prior to its launch to enable the spacecraft to survive the extreme temperature near Sun's corona.

"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.

"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.

(With inputs from agencies)