RUSSIAN ASTRONAUTS HEAD FOR THE SUN
By Tap Vann on July 18, 2011
MOSCOW - Russia launched a man spacedcraft that is scheduled to land on the sun.
Our "native" star, the Sun, has never been able to examined at close range - until now. The Russian will be landing on the sun in three weeks!
Helio-physicists of several countries worked to create devices that have allowed Russian astronauts to land on the sun. The first solar probe is underway!
The idea of   sending a spacecraft to the sun originated in the Russian scientific community in the 1970 (under Brezhnev). It involved not a manned spacecraft, but rather a research probe that was to be sent to the Sun. At the time, however, this project seemed technically unfeasible. The real work on the device able to explore the Sun from an extremely small distance (30-40 solar radii), was commenced by the Russian scientists only in 2005. Later, the project was included in the federal space program.
The Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Wave Propagation named after Pushkov (IZMIRAN), Physics Institute of the Academy of Sciences (FIAN) and other research institutions along with their colleagues from the "Space Agency" completed a Interhelioprobe device that has made it possible for Russian astronauts to travel to the sun - and land on it.
The NGO named after Lavochkin developed research equipment and "solar spies" that will be "delivered" to the sun with Soyuz-2. It is assumed that 17 units will be housed on board of the domestic probe. Since their combined weight must not exceed 120 kilograms, specialists will use the most advanced technology and materials for the construction of the equipment.
There is, of course, the danger of overheating and Russian astronauts being vaporized by the heat, but Russian scientists said that they think they have created a protective shield that can withstand "a thousand suns". The heat shield is capable of withstanding temperatures up to 1,000 degrees Celsius. As reported by the staff of FIAN, the heat shieldconsists of alloys of tungsten, molybdenum and other refractory materials.
What kind of information do the scientists expect to obtain?
"Landing on the sun is necessary in order to study such phenomenon as solar flares," says Vladimir Kuznetsov, director of IZMIRAN. "An essential part of the program will involve observations of the area out of the ecliptic plane of the sun, where Earth and all planets are located. In these areas the reversal of the magnetic fields occurs, which is important for studying the solar cycle and the solar dynamo, because as of today we still are not able to predict the beginning and the amplitude of these cycles very well."
According to Kuznetsov, if we learn to predict solar activity and the duration of solar cycles, it will allow to lessen the impact of Earth and near-Earth environment, as it has long been proven that they significantly affect nearly all natural and technological processes, as well as human activity.
In addition, the scientist said, when we can explore the heliosphere, and especially its interaction with man-made structures, we will learn how to build thermal and radiation protection in space that would make spacewalks easier, because sooner or later humanity will fly to Mars and other planets.
Here's the Captain of the Russian sun mission - Hero Vladmir - who is also an expert on UFOs.
Apart from the Russian project, there are currently two similar projects abroad. European scientists are working on Solar Orbiter apparatus meant to study the Sun from a distance of 60 solar radii (this is slightly closer than the orbit of Mercury). The American Solar Probe will be approaching the Sun at a distance of only 8.5 radii from its surface.
However, Solar Orbiter will launch in 2017, and the Solar Probe - in 2018. As for the date of the launch of the Russian device, the experts believe it will occur in 2015. Russia has a real chance to be ahead of the rest of the world in this space endeavor.
Reporting by Irina Shlionskaya
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