NASA has confirmed that its Parker Solar Probe is “safe” after passing 3.8 million miles from the sun, making it the closest human-made object ever to approach the solar surface. The spacecraft successfully completed this feat on December 24 and flew into the sun’s outer atmosphere called the corona.
The probe sent a signal to the NASA operations team at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland just before midnight on Thursday, confirming its safe passage. The spacecraft is expected to transmit detailed telemetry data about its status by January 1.
During its closest approach, the probe endured temperatures of up to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit and moved at speeds of up to 430,000 miles per hour. This historic event allows scientists to take measurements that help them better understand how materials are heated in the sun’s outer atmosphere, trace the origin of the solar wind, and study the acceleration of energetic particles.
“This close-up study of the Sun is rewriting the textbooks on its operation,” said Dr. Joseph Westlake, NASA’s heliophysics director. “It’s an amazing achievement to create technologies that let us delve into our understanding of how the sun operates.” The Parker Solar Probe was launched in 2018 and has been gradually circling closer towards the sun using flybys of Venus.
Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/nasa-spacecraft-safe-closest-ever-061724678.html