NASA is planning to fly directly into our sun’s atmosphere. The mission, Solar Probe Plus, is scheduled to launch in the summer of 2018.

The spacecraft will be placed in orbit within four million miles of the sun’s surface, and face heat and radiation unlike any spacecraft in history. The resulting data will improve forecasts of major space weather events that impact life on Earth, as well as satellites and astronauts in space, says the space agency.

[Image courtesy: NASA]