@ redeye:
redeye states:
"We may have to wait till we can send probes out of the heliosphere before we can find any solid evidence for the energy source of the Sun, although the environment on the fringes of the heliosphere may be extremely hazardous if the Van Allen belts are anything to go by."
Yes, it is my estimation that you are right. Through the course of the investigation of space, in situ observation & measurement has had the final say.
Numerous times, "modern" astronomy has postulated that space would be "neutral" and maintained that posture right up and until an in situ observation & measurement contradicted their position beyond any reasonable doubt and a new, "yes, but" frontier was born. The Trident satellite in 1973 made it impossible for "modern" astronomy to deny Birkeland currents existed between the Sun and the Earth. The only question left to be decided was their exact composition and dynamics (morphology). And this wasn't fully defined for over 30 years, until...your guessed it...another in situ observation & measurement was completed by THEMIS, this very year, 2009.
(And "modern" astronomers still distort and deny the conclusions and predictions made by Kristian Birkeland.)
Sadly, for whatever reason, there are various strains, "modern" astronomy refuses to actively incorporate electromagnetic principles into the study of astronomy, until the refusal becomes untenable, then another layer of the onion is peeled back and a new "line in space" is drawn that electromagnetism dare not cross.
Sorry, redeye, for the digression, you had stated, "We may have to wait till we can send probes out of the heliosphere before we can find any solid evidence for the energy source of the Sun..."
NASA planned just such a mission with the announcement in 2002 of the Interstellar Probe, its sub title, "Exploring the Interstellar Medium and the Boundaries of the Heliosphere" (please see below link).
http://interstellar.jpl.nasa.gov/
This was the real deal and arguably the NASA mission with the greatest possibility for advancement of scientific understanding and technology including propulsion, communication, and data collection under new and potentially adverse circumstances since the early space probes. A real challenge for NASA with the possibility of paradigm shifting results.
But at some unknown time and for some unknown reason, this NASA mission was quietly "put on the shelf". I can't find any internet stories or reports that tell what happened to this NASA mission. (Does any reader have any information on the status of this announced NASA mission?)
I don't like engaging in "conspiracy theories", actually, I'm a pretty conservative scientific observer. But is it possible the likely answer that the heliopause is a 'double layer' as predicted by Plasma Cosmology is not an answer that NASA particularly welcomes because it not only supports Plasma Cosmology's prediction of the make-up of the heliopause, itself, a major coup (and would be another in a long line of successful predictions), but also would set the stage for arguments over alternative explanations for how the Sun works?
Strange that an announced mission that promised so much in terms of raw data and "going where no man has gone before" and technology advancement would be quietly put in the deep freeze.
