NASA invites people to submit names to go onboard its new solar mission
Washington: NASA is inviting people around the world to submit their names online to be placed on a microchip aboard NASAs historic Parker Solar Probe mission, to be launched this summer.
The mission will travel through the Sun's atmosphere, facing brutal heat and radiation conditions -- and your name will go along for the ride. The submissions of names will be accepted until April 27, the US space agency said in a statement on Thursday.
"This probe will journey to a region humanity has never explored before. This mission will answer questions scientists have sought to uncover for more than six decades," said Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator for Science Mission Directorate at NASA.
The spacecraft -- about the size of a small car -- will travel directly into the Sun's atmosphere about four million miles from the star's surface.
The primary goals for the mission are to trace how energy and heat move through the solar corona and to explore what accelerates the solar wind as well as solar energetic particles.
To perform the investigations, the spacecraft and instruments will be protected from the Sun's heat by a 4.5-inch-thick carbon-composite shield.
The state-of-the-art heat shield will keep the four instrument suites designed to study magnetic fields, plasma and energetic particles, and image the solar wind at room temperature.
In May 2017, NASA renamed the spacecraft from the Solar Probe Plus to the Parker Solar Probe in honour of astrophysicist Eugene Parker.
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Binny Bansal steps down from board of PhonePe
New Delhi, Nov 22: Flipkart's co-founder Binny Bansal has stepped down from the board of PhonePe, the fintech company said on Friday.
PhonePe also announced the appointment of Manish Sabharwal as an Independent Director and Chair of its Audit Committee.
In this role, Sabharwal will be instrumental in upholding the integrity and effectiveness of PhonePe's financial reporting, internal controls, and risk management practices, he company said in a release.
"PhonePe also announced that Flipkart's co-founder, Binny Bansal has stepped down from its Board of Directors. Binny acquired PhonePe in 2016 and has been on its Board since then," the release said.
Commenting on the board rejig, Sameer Nigam, CEO and Founder of PhonePe said, "I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Binny Bansal for being one of PhonePe's earliest and staunchest supporters. His active engagement, strategic guidance, and personal mentorship have profoundly enriched our discussions. Binny will be missed!"
Nigam further said that Sabharwal's depth of understanding of India's macro economy, coupled with his leadership in shaping India's policies for education, employment, and employability will be invaluable as PhonePe continues to work ahead towards shared vision of a Viksit Bharat by 2047.
Sabharwal is Vice-Chairman of Teamlease Services, India's largest staffing and human capital firm.
Bansal played an instrumental role in Flipkart's acquisition of PhonePe way back in 2016 and had been on its board since then (the payments firm separated from Flipkart in 2022).
