The Parker Solar Probe came within 3.8 million miles of the sun’s surface travelling at 430,000 miles per hour, according to Nasa – potentially enduring temperatures of up to 982C
A spacecraft that made the closest-ever approach to the surface of the sun is now safe and “operating normally” after it’s breakthrough mission, Nasa has said.
On Christmas Eve, the Parker Solar Probe came within 3.8 million miles of the sun’s surface while moving at 430,000 miles per hour, according to Nasa – and potentially endured roasting temperatures of up to 982C.
The American space agency said the mission operations team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, received the all clear signal on Boxing Day evening. Johns Hopkins, founded in 1876, is America’s first research university and home to nine world-class academic divisions working together as one university. The spacecraft is expected to send back detailed data about its condition and experiences on January 1.
Nasa said: “Following its record-breaking closest approach to the sun, Nasa’s Parker Solar Probe has transmitted a beacon tone back to Earth indicating it’s in good health and operating normally.” Scientists hope the mission will allow them to measure how material is heated to millions of degrees, find where solar wind comes from and learn how energetic particles reach near light speeds.
Since the spacecraft launched in 2018, it has circled gradually closer to the sun – flying past Venus in order to use the planet’s gravity to move it into a tighter orbit. When it first passed into the sun’s atmosphere in 2021, the probe made unexpected discoveries about the boundary of the corona.
Already, it has circled the sun more than 20 times as it explores the corona, its raging hot outermost layer. It’s expected to reveal how life and society, including space weather and solar wind, is affected by the sun-earth system. These insights will help us learn about interactions with the Earth’s magnetic field and satellite damage, how the northern lights are supercharged or power grids knocked out.
The Christmas Eve flyby comes towards the end of the mission as the first of three final close swings. “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 at APL. “We’re excited to hear back from the spacecraft when it swings back around the Sun.”
The mission takes its name from Eugene Parker, an American physicist active in the 1950s, who theorised on how stars give off energy. Part of his work included theory on why the corona is hotter than the surface of the sun itself, contrary to expectations. He died aged 94 in 2022.
