How long would it take to send a voyage to the sun?

Answer 1

We have been already.

The Helios deep space probes were launched in the mid 1970s by the Federal Republic of Germany and NASA, using US Air Force launch vehicles.

There were two in the series, Helios I and Helios II. They were launched to orbit and measure the Sun. They set a speed record for spacecraft at 252,792 km/h (70.2 km/s).

They also set the record for closest approach to the Sun, at about 45 million kilometres, slightly inside the orbit of Mercury. The Helios 2 was sent into orbit 3 months after the launch of the Helios 1.

Both probes orbited around the Sun in an ellipse, with their farthest distance from the Sun being almost 1 AU and their closest distance to the Sun at 0.3 AU. The Helios space probes completed their primary missions by the early 1980's, but they continued to send data up to 1985.

Presently, these probes are no longer functional, but they still remain in their elliptical orbit around the Sun.

We know the distance (from Earth to within 0.3 AU of the Sun and we know the speed, so an approximate journey time can be calculated. However what we don't know whether the trajectory chosen was the optimum one for quick arrival, or whether other criteria were used e.g. ensuring the probe did not fall into the Sun, in which case a more tangential approach may have been needed.

Answer 2

Testing - One, Two, Three...

At present, when one stays outside to long a case of Sunburn will result. Repeated exposure like that may result in Skin Cancer. Those things happen on the surface of the Earth where we are protected from the massive amounts of radiation, UV Rays, Gamma Rays, and X Rays radiated out from the Sun by a dense atmosphere. Leaving the Earth's atmosphere you are immediately exposed to all of that radiation.

Movement toward the Sun intensifies all of that radiation and the associated heat. In a short period of time what ever was launched toward the Sun will be burned to a crisp.

The surface temperature on the Sun is 10,000 Degrees F. Core temperatures are estimated at Millions and Millions of Degrees F where nuclear fusion of Hydrogen Gas into Helium Gas is taking place to produce heat, light, and intense radiation. The surface of the Sun is liquid gas, not a solid surface, and there is nothing solid to land on. This is true of all stars according to present research technology.

Answer 3

Solar Probe, hopefully to launch in 2014, will take about 4 years before its first flyby of the sun (at a distance of about 3 solar radii). Then it will orbit on an elliptical path that will take it almost as far out as Jupiter before it returns to fly by the sun again about 5 years later. This is so it will fly by the sun during solar minimum and again during solar maximum (the cycle of solar activity is about 11 years long).

Answer 4

Zahbudar makes a good point about the danger of heat and radiation - you'd better go at night.

Answer 5

if you claimed it was a threat to the country, they would have someone there tomorrow