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Parker Solar Probe survived a close approach to the Sun’s scorching surface this week. NASA announced Friday that the explorer is “safe” and operating normally after passing within a record-breaking 6 million kilometers of the star. It is expected to orbit the Sun at this distance until at least September – which is the closest a man-made object has ever come to the Sun.
“The Parker Solar Probe has called home! after passing just 3.8 million miles from the solar surface on December. 24 – Closest solar flyby in history – We have received Parker Solar Probe’s beacon tone confirming that the spacecraft is safe,” read an update on X from the NASA Sun & Moon handle.
The mission operations team in Maryland lost contact during the spacecraft’s closest approach ever on Christmas Eve. The spacecraft finally transmitted a beacon tone to Earth just before midnight (EST) on December 26 – indicating it was in good health and operating normally. The probe is expected to send detailed telemetry data about its position on January 1.
Parker Solar Probe was launched in 2018 to take a closer look at the Sun. It is the fastest spacecraft ever built by humans and has been flying straight through the bright star’s crown-like outer atmosphere ever since. The probe is equipped with a heat shield that can withstand scorching temperatures of up to 1370 degrees Celsius.
The solar probe has been slowly orbiting closer to the sun over the past six years – flying past Venus using the planet’s gravity to steer it into a tight orbit.
Scientists hope Parker’s data will help them better understand why the Sun’s outer atmosphere is hundreds of times hotter than its surface and what drives the solar wind – a supersonic stream of charged particles that constantly blow away from the Sun. Is going. The probe made unexpected discoveries about the extent of the corona when it first reached the sun’s atmosphere in 2021.
(with inputs from agencies)
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