NASA's Parker Solar Probe lifts off successfully
Miami, Aug 12 : NASA on Sunday successfully launched the Parker Solar Probe, the US space agency's historic small car-size probe to "touch the Sun," from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
"3-2-1... and we have liftoff of Parker #SolarProbe atop @ULAlaunch's #DeltaIV Heavy rocket," the US-based space agency tweeted.
The launch was initially planned for Saturday morning.
The probe is named after Eugene Parker, a solar physicist, who in 1958 first predicted the existence of the solar wind, a stream of charged particles and magnetic fields that flow continuously from the sun.
Nestled atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy -- one of the world's most powerful rockets -- with a third stage added, Parker Solar Probe will blasted off toward the sun with a whopping 55 times more energy than was required to reach Mars.
Weighing just 635 kgs, it is a relatively light spacecraft, Andy Driesman, project manager for the mission at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in the US, said in an earlier statement.
Zooming through space in a highly elliptical orbit, the Parker Solar Probe will reach speeds of up to 700,000 kms per hour, setting the record for the fastest spacecraft in history.
During its nominal mission lifetime of just under seven years, the Parker Solar Probe will complete 24 orbits of the Sun -- reaching within 3.8 million miles of the Sun's surface at the closest approach.
In an orbit this close to the Sun, the real challenge is to keep the spacecraft from burning up.
3-2-1… and we have liftoff of Parker #SolarProbe atop @ULAlaunch’s #DeltaIV Heavy rocket. Tune in as we broadcast our mission to “touch” the Sun: https://t.co/T3F4bqeATB pic.twitter.com/Ah4023Vfvn
— NASA (@NASA) August 12, 2018
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PM arrives at Brigade Parade Grounds for swearing-in ceremony of BJP's first govt in Bengal
Kolkata (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived at the Brigade Parade Grounds here on Saturday to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the BJP's first government in West Bengal.
Accompanied by state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya and CM-elect Suvendu Adhikari, Modi was accorded a rousing welcome.
Amid the 'Jay Shri Ram' slogan, Modi entered the venue on an open vehicle and was seen waving at the crowd.
The Prime Minister landed at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport here a little before 10 am and took a helicopter to reach the Race Course ground before proceeding by road to the venue.
Thousands of BJP supporters gathered at the Brigade Parade Grounds since early morning to witness the oath-taking ceremony.
The BJP secured 207 seats in the 294-member Assembly, ending the Trinamool Congress' 15-year rule in the state.
