Get ready for a historic encounter as NASA’s Parker Solar Probe embarks on its record-breaking close pass of the Sun, poised to reveal groundbreaking insights into the solar wind and coronal mass ejections.
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Set to Make its Closest Ever Pass of the Sun
The Parker Solar Probe is poised to make its closest-ever approach of the Sun on Christmas Eve, a record-setting 3.8 million miles (6.2 million kilometers) from the surface. This achievement marks one of the most significant milestones in the spacecraft’s seven-year mission to deepen our understanding of the Sun and its effects on space weather.
The Closest Approach: A Record-Setting Distance
Launched in August 2018, the Parker Solar Probe is designed to explore the Sun’s outer atmosphere, known as the corona. On December 24, at 6:53 am (11:53 GMT), the spacecraft will reach a distance of approximately 3.8 million miles from the surface of the Sun. To put this into perspective, if the distance between Earth and the Sun were equivalent to the length of an American football field, the spacecraft would be about four yards (meters) from the end zone at that point.
Exploring Extreme Conditions
The Parker Solar Probe is equipped with a heat shield that can withstand scorching temperatures of up to 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit (930 degrees Celsius). However, the internal instruments will remain near room temperature, around 85F (29C), as they collect data from the Sun’s corona. The spacecraft will also be moving at an incredible speed of approximately 430,000 mph (690,000 kph), making it one of the fastest human-made objects in history.
Uncharted Territory
As the Parker Solar Probe ventures into uncharted territory, it will provide scientists with a wealth of new information about the Sun’s behavior. The mission teams are eager to receive data from the spacecraft and start analyzing the findings. “No human-made object has ever passed this close to a star,” said Nick Pinkine, Parker Solar Probe mission operations manager at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). “Parker will truly be returning data from uncharted territory.”
A New Era in Space Exploration
The Parker Solar Probe’s record-setting close passes of the Sun are not only a testament to human ingenuity but also a significant step forward in our understanding of the universe. By exploring the extreme conditions near the Sun, scientists hope to answer long-standing questions about the solar wind, coronal mass ejections, and the corona’s temperature. The mission is expected to continue with three record-setting close passes, on March 22, 2025, and June 19, 2025.
