Kathmandu: NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has made history by surviving the closest-ever fly-by of the Sun, enduring extreme conditions to send a successful signal back to Earth. The spacecraft passed just 3.8 million miles (6.1 million kilometers) from the solar surface on Christmas Eve, marking a groundbreaking milestone in solar exploration.
After several days of being out of communication during the high-risk fly-by, scientists at NASA received a signal from the probe just before midnight EST on Thursday (05:00 GMT on Friday). The agency confirmed that the Parker Solar Probe was “safe” and operating normally despite having passed through the Sun’s searing outer atmosphere.
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, which launched in 2018, is on a mission to unlock the mysteries of the Sun, including how material in the Sun’s atmosphere is heated to millions of degrees, the origin of the solar wind, and how energetic particles are accelerated to nearly the speed of light.
Moving at a record-breaking 430,000 mph (692,000 kph), the probe endured temperatures up to 1,800°F (980°C), facing extreme radiation that could have damaged its electronics. The spacecraft is shielded by an 11.5 cm (4.5 in) thick carbon-composite heat shield, allowing it to endure the Sun’s intense heat for brief periods during its fly-by.
The December 24th approach, the 22nd of its kind, was the closest the spacecraft has ever come to the Sun. For comparison, Earth is about 93 million miles from the Sun, meaning that if the Sun and Earth were placed one meter apart, Parker Solar Probe would be just 4 cm from the Sun, illustrating the spacecraft’s incredible proximity.
This unprecedented mission is providing NASA with invaluable data to improve understanding of our Sun’s behavior, including the solar wind—a continuous flow of charged particles from the Sun—and how they affect space weather and Earth’s magnetic field.
Dr. Nicola Fox, NASA’s head of science, emphasized the importance of this mission: “For centuries, people have studied the Sun, but you don’t experience the atmosphere of a place until you actually go [and] visit it. We can’t really understand the atmosphere of our star unless we fly through it,” she told BBC News.
The Parker Solar Probe continues to make history with each of its fly-bys, and scientists are eager to analyze the data it provides in their ongoing quest to better understand the forces at work on our star.
Source: BBC