CfA will play major role in mission to 'touch' the sun

(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) When NASA's Solar Probe Plus launches before the end of the decade, it will carry a suite of cutting-edge scientific instruments. Only one -- the Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons (SWEAP) Investigation -- will directly sample the sun's outer atmosphere. Designed by scientists at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, part of SWEAP will extend beyond the probe's heat shield to scoop up some of the sun's tenuous gases.