The U.S. space agency is planning to send a probe to the sun to gather data and shed light on basic questions about how the star operates and its effects on Earth. VOA's Michael Bowman reports from Washington, the initiative entails numerous technological challenges that will test the skill and ingenuity of engineers assigned to the project.

Artist's drawing of the Solar Probe spacecraft

It is the brightest, most prominent feature of our sky, yet in many ways the sun is shrouded in mystery.

"We have never had a voyage to a star. We do not know what it does up close, next to its visible surface. And we do not know the [sun's] physical processes very well," said Richard Fisher, who heads NASA's Heliophysics Division, the body responsible for studying the sun.