Ruimtereizen naar de Zon!

[Marcel de Bont]

Poollicht.be, in een samenwerkingsverband met NASA is trots om een compleet nieuw product te lanceren: ruimtereizen naar de Zon!

Na vele jaren aan wetenschappelijk onderzoek is het NASA gelukt om een ruimteschip te bouwen die de hitte van de Zon kan verdragen en wij nodigen jullie uit om onderdeel te zijn van deze historische reis!

Lees er meer over op onze speciale pagina!

[Marcel de Bont]

Ons ruimtereisje naar de Zon was natuurlijk nep en een 1 april grap. Hopelijk hebben we jullie vermaakt met onze grap en als het even kan ook een klein beetje voor de gek gehouden. Natuurlijk gaan we nu weer keurig door in waar we goed in zijn, betrouwbare informatie leveren over het ruimteweer.

Bedankt voor de vele leuke reacties namens het hele Poollicht.be team! Hieronder nogmaals de hele tekst:

 

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Spaceflights to the Sun! Pre-order now!

SpaceWeatherLive, in cooperation with NASA is proud to present a completely new product: spaceflights to the Sun!

After years of research, scientists and engineers from NASA have managed to build a spaceship which can withstand the heat of the Sun and even land on the Sun’s surface. The ship has already made numerous successful landings and more flights are being scheduled. However, the project turned out to be more expensive than expected and to compensate the extra expenses, NASA has decided to provide spaceflights to the Sun for the general public as a way to generate extra income. SpaceWeatherLive has been asked to facilitate the commercial aspects of these flights and we will be providing an expert who will inform and guide the passengers during the journey.

The spacecraft

The spacecraft is called the ‘’Solar Explorer’’ and is based on the Space Shuttle. It is smaller and has a lot more shielding than the Space Shuttle, this is to withstand the heat of the Sun while approaching and departing from the Sun. It also uses a new type of engine which puts out considerably more power. This power is needed to escape the Sun’s gravity and to propel the spacecraft to incredibly high speeds. The spacecraft will travel at a speed of about 4500km/s which means it will take about 9 hours to cover the Sun-Earth distance, a reasonable time. The Solar Explorer has a cockpit which holds room for 2 pilots and 5 passengers and a small living compartment which can be used while traveling between the Sun and Earth. The spacecraft launches from the Kennedy Space Center on top of a Atlas V 402 rocket and after the trip to the Sun it descends back to Earth the same way as the Space Shuttle did. It will glide back into Earth's atmosphere and land almost exactly like a normal airplane would. The image below shows the Solar Explorer as it lands on a runway at the Kennedy Space Center.

Head of the Solar Explorer design team, Mr. G. Roddenberry tells us: ''I am very excited to work on this project and to lead the team that designed this wonderful spacecraft. By going to the Sun, we will be doing something that has never been done before and that people from the general public got a chance to come along for the ride makes it only more special. This is truly a project that will be remembered for years to come and to be part of it is a dream coming true.

But the Sun is hot! How can you land on the Sun?

That is an excellent question! It is true that our star is very hot and it would normally not be possible to land on the Sun’s surface. However, we are currently near solar maximum and that means that the Sun is covered with dark areas that we call sunspots. These sunspots are exactly what we need because sunspots are much cooler than the Sun itself. In fact, they are so cool that they will be the perfect landing spot for our spacecraft. Sunspots provide a safe landing platform and it will even enable us to walk around on the Sun with adequate protective gear, something which we will of course provide. The image below shows the Solar Explorer on a sunspot.

Another concern of us are solar flares. Solar flares are explosions on the surface of the Sun which occur near magnetically complex sunspots. To prevent getting blown to pieces by a surprise solar flare, we will only be landing on sunspot groups with a simple magnetic layout. NASA’s SDO spacecraft will be used to determine which sunspot will be the safest to land on.

Prices

So what are you waiting for? Be part of this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Dive with us through coronal loops and experience the magnificent coronal rain from up close. This is truly an experience you don't want to miss! Still unsure? If you buy two tickets you will get the second ticket for half price! This offer applies only today so order now!

De pre-order knop was een link naar de engelstalige Wikipedia pagina over 1 april. :)