How closely could a manned spacecraft travel to the sun safely...?

Question

...with modern technology, and how long would it take to get to that point in space?

...with modern technology. How long would it take to get to that point in space, and how large would the Sun appear to an observer on that spacecraft?

Answer 1

By using some active heat shields, it could be possible to travel at very high speed at Mercury orbit. The problems is not to sustain high heat coming from the sun, but how long we need to sustain a certain heat. Since we need to store such thermal energy and dissipate it some how, in order to cool down the inside of the spacecraft. So I say that using ionic propulsion at around 50000km/s such spacecraft could orbit at Mercury distance from the sun for a maximum of 1 day. After this, you can cook your *** goodbye...;)

Answer 2

Probably not far inside the orbit of Venus. The problem is dissipating heat. The sun's heat grows as the square of the distance- half as far, four times as hot. To get there... we can't do it yet- a spacecraft that could hold enough fuel, food, and air is currently too large for us to send that far.

Answer 3

Well Venus is not enough to melt lead and it is closer to the Sun that Earth, well Mercury is closest to the Sun and really Hot.

I wouldn't even try going to Venus if I were you.

Answer 4

Not only would heat be a problem, but radiation would not give our intrepid astronauts a cozy feeling.

Answer 5

How close you can get depends on two things; How much can you minimize heat absorbtion and how much can you maximize heat loss?

Doug