It can be done. All you need to do is launch the probe in the opposite direction of Earth's motion with a speed of 30 kilometers/sec. The actual way to do this is to use Jupiter's gravity assist to swing the probe into the right sun-plunging trajectory so that it reaches perihelion close to the Sun.
As to what you would learn that is new, probably quite a bit about the density and temperature of the Sun's inner corona and chromosphere. However, you would have to build a spacecraft able to withstand a sustained temperature of several thousand degrees, and rapid changes in ambient magnetic field and induced currents and showers of secondary electrons produced by charged particles striking the crafts' shielding at thousands of kilometers/sec. It would probably only make it to about 1 million miles before the accumulated damage destroyed its functioning. What the Solar Probe...now on the designers table, will do is to use a sunshade to shield the satellite from the full power of the Sun and to create a wake-shield behind it that is free of high energy particles. The satellite would either peek over the edge of the shield, or have apertures in the front of the shield to 'see' where it was going.
For more information, visit the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Solar Probe page.
Copyright 1997 Dr. Sten Odenwald
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