Four Greek scientists are taking part in NASA’s Parker Solar Probe spacecraft mission, launched in August 2018, to study the sun more closely than ever before.
The first data of the ‘Touch the Sun’ mission has been sent back to earth, offering valuable information about the solar system that will help scientists to better understand the climate and behaviour of the planets as well as the sun.
Greek scientists are currently members of two out of the four study groups that are part of the multinational project looking at various aspects of the sun and its importance to human life on earth.
Two Greek nationals responsible for the mission are academic-space scientist Stamatis Krimizis, and researcher Olga Malandraki of the Institute of Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Applications & Remote Astronomy of the National Observatory of Athens.
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Astrophysicist Angelos Vourlidas from Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory and Athanasios Couloumbakos, from the Institute of Research, Astrophysics and Planetology in Toulouse, France are also members of the project.