NASA’s Parker Space Probe Approaches the Sun
Representation of the Parker probe approaching the sun. X/ @latestinspace
December 25, 2024 Hour: 9:43 am
It will be able to take unprecedented measurements that have the potential to transform our understanding of the Sun.
On Tuesday, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced that the 685-kilogram Parker Solar Probe will position itself approximately six million kilometers (3.7 million miles) from the Sun’s surface.
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Launched into space in August 2018 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, the Parker Probe was designed with the goal of “touching the Sun” by orbiting through the so-called ‘corona,’ the outermost layer of the Sun’s atmosphere. The probe is equipped with a heat shield capable of withstanding temperatures of up to 1,400 degrees Celsius (2,552 degrees Fahrenheit).
This approach to such a close distance—equivalent to nine times the Sun’s radius—will be the first of several it is expected to make until June 2025, traveling at a speed of 692,000 kilometers per hour (430,000 miles per hour). In doing so, Parker will become the fastest human-made object in history.
“It will be able to take unprecedented measurements of this region, measurements that have the potential to transform our understanding of the Sun,” said Cristian Ferradas, a space physicist in the Heliophysics Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
By that time, and since its first close approach to the Sun, NASA engineers estimate that the probe will have completed 24 orbits of the Sun. Its 11.43-centimeter-thick carbon heat shield will keep its four measurement instruments at a stable 29 degrees Celsius (84.2 degrees Fahrenheit).
“Although this region of the solar corona has a very high temperature, its density is very low, meaning there are very few hot particles to transfer energy to the spacecraft. The corona is very tenuous, which helps prevent the spacecraft from melting,” explained Ferradas.
A few hours before this close approach, NASA researchers warn that it will not be until December 27 that communications from the probe are received, allowing them to evaluate how the mission has progressed.
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE
