Dr. Eugene Parker announcing plans for the solar probe. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images
NASA is preparing to send a probe closer to the sun than ever before with August 6 as the targeted launch date, reports Reuters.
The details: The probe, called the Parker Solar Probe, is set to fly into the sun's corona and get within 3.8 million miles of the star's surface — seven times closer to the sun than any other spacecraft and the mission is projected to take seven years. It's goal is to study the part of the sun's atmosphere giving rise to solar wind.