NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is “safe” and operating normally after successfully completing the closest-ever approach to the sun by any human-made object, the agency announced on Friday.
On December 24, the spacecraft passed just 6.1 million kilometers from the solar surface, venturing into the sun’s outer atmosphere, known as the corona. This mission aims to help scientists gain unprecedented insights into Earth’s closest star.
The operations team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland received a beacon tone from the probe just before midnight on Thursday, confirming its status. Detailed telemetry data about the spacecraft is expected to be received on January 1, according to NASA.
Traveling at speeds of up to 692,000 kilometers per hour, the Parker Solar Probe endured extreme temperatures reaching up to 982 degrees Celsius. This incredible feat allows the probe to collect measurements that can help scientists better understand how materials in the sun’s corona are heated to millions of degrees, trace the origin of the solar wind—a continuous flow of material escaping the sun—and discover how energetic particles are accelerated to near light speed.
Launched in 2018, the Parker Solar Probe has been gradually spiraling closer to the sun, utilizing flybys of Venus to gravitationally pull it into tighter orbits. This groundbreaking mission represents a significant leap forward in space exploration and solar science, promising to unlock mysteries about the sun that have puzzled scientists for decades.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
