NASA’s Parker Solar Probe made history on Tuesday with a record-breaking flight around the sun, the space agency has confirmed. The spacecraft set a new benchmark early on the morning of Dec. 24, coming within 3.8 million miles of the sun’s outer corona atmosphere.
A signal received by NASA’s operations teams late on Dec. 26 acknowledged that the probe had survived the close encounter and was operating normally.
“Flying this close to the Sun is a historic moment in humanity’s first mission to a star,” Nicky Fox, head of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said in a statement Friday.
When the spacecraft reaches a new position in January 2025, it will transmit data from this flyby back to Earth.
Read more: See NASA’s Stunning Image of the Sun Spitting Out Its Biggest Solar Flare Since 2017
According to NASA, the Parker Solar Probe reached speeds of up to 430,000 miles per hour, enduring temperatures as high as 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit (982 Celsius). Although the probe is scheduled to orbit the sun two more times, this mission marks the closest it will ever get.
The next planned close solar passes are expected to take place March 22 and June 19, 2025.
‘Data from uncharted territory’
The mission is part of a broader effort by scientists to “conduct unrivaled scientific research with the potential to change our understanding of our closest star,” the agency said on its website.
The spacecraft, launched in 2018, performed multiple flybys of Venus to gradually move closer to the sun. These flybys also provided scientists with insights into Venus, thanks to onboard instruments capable of capturing visible and near-infrared light from the planet, the agency said on its website. This allowed researchers to peer through Venus’ dense cloud cover.
When the probe first entered the sun’s atmosphere in 2021, it provided groundbreaking information about the corona.
“No human-made object has ever passed this close to a star, so Parker will truly be returning data from uncharted territory,” said Nick Pinkine, Parker Solar Probe mission operations manager, in a press release in December. “We’re excited to hear back from the spacecraft when it swings back around the Sun.”
The Parker Solar Probe is part of NASA’s Living With a Star program, which aims to explore aspects of the solar system that affect life on Earth.
Source: CNET
