On Wednesday, NASA will officially announce its plans to fly a spacecraft directly into the hot ball of gases at the center of our solar system.
The announcement will be aired live on NASA TV and on the website at 11 a.m. from the University of Chicago's William Eckhardt Research Center Auditorium, according to a news release.
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The mission, called Solar Probe Plus, was first proposed more than half a century ago and will last about seven years after its summer 2018 launch, according to the mission website.
The solar probe will swoop within four million miles of the sun’s surface, eventually traveling at nearly half a million miles per hour and withstanding temperatures of more than 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit.
Scientists hope the probe will offer data about solar activity, “unlock mysteries of the corona” and ultimately help forecast major space-weather events.
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"Until we can explain what is going on up close to the sun, we will not be able to accurately predict space weather effects that can cause havoc at Earth," the Solar Probe Plus website states.
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