Scientists hope to launch the Solar Probe Plus (SPP) sometime before 2018.

科学家们希望能在2018年之前启动“太阳探测附加任务”（SPP）。

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"The Solar Probe will literally slice through a bit of the Sun's atmosphere, and that's never been done before," he said.

他说：“SPP计划中的探测器将慢慢割穿一块太阳大气，这将是一个前所未有的壮举。”

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The Solar Probe Cup will scoop up bits of the sun’s corona and solar wind to continuously measure its speed, temperature and density.

太阳探测杯（The Solar Probe Cup）会收集一些日冕和太阳风去持续地测量速度、温度和密度等数据。

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It suffered from short-circuits, faulty radio and power systems, an unreliable tape-recorder, a sticky camera platform, and the loss of much of the gas that supplied its stabilising thrusters a problem overcome by repositioning its solar panels and main antenna so that they acted as solar sails, stabilising the probe via the gentle pressure of sunlight.

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Current plans call for the probe to unfurl a solar sail 400 metres across shortly after launch.

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"Each meteorite is a time capsule and space probe recording the history of our solar system from 4.5 billion years ago, " said Caroline Smith, curator of meteorites at London's Natural History Museum.

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