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NASA’sParker Solar Probehas pull round its history - making attempt to fly nigh tothe sunthan we have ever been before — a stunning technical feat that scientist liken to the historic Apollo moon landing in 1969 . The track record - breaking probe beam a beacon tone back to Earth around midnight Eastern Standard Time on Thursday ( Dec. 26 ) , a key sign the probe is working normally , NASA announce .
At 6:53 a.m. ET on Tuesday ( Dec. 24 ) , the machine - sized spacecraft whizz along to within 3.8 million Roman mile ( 6.1 million kilometers ) of the sunlight ’s surface , well-nigh 10 times close than Mercury ’s orbit around the virtuoso . The probe was likely locomote at an unbelievable amphetamine of 430,000 mph ( 690,000 kph ) — fast enough to travel from Tokyo to Washington , D.C. in less than a moment — breaking its own recordas the fast homo - made object in history .
An illustration of the Parker Solar Probe skimming the sun closer than ever before.
" Right now , Parker Solar Probe has achieved what we designed the mission for,“Nicola Fox , the associate executive for NASA Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington , D.C. , said in a NASAvideoreleased on Dec. 24 . " It ’s just a total ' Yay ! We did it ' minute . "
delegacy control could not commune with the probe during the closest portion of its tryst with the Lord’s Day , and so scientists s at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory ( APL ) in Laurel , Maryland were waiting apprehensively for the beacon signal to confirm the spacecraft ’s survival .
Detailed telemetry data wo n’t come back online till Jan. 1 , 2025 , NASA announced . Images foregather during the flyby will beam home in early January , followed by scientific data later in the calendar month when the probe swoop up further away from the sun , Nour Rawafi , who is the project scientist for the mission , told reporters at the Annual Meeting of the American Geophysical Union ( AGU ) earlier this calendar month .
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" We ca n’t wait to receive that first position update from the spacecraft and start welcome the skill information in the coming weeks,“Arik Posner , the political program scientist for the Parker Solar Probe at NASA Headquarters , tell in astatement .
" No man - made physical object has ever passed this close to a star , so Parker will truly be returning data point from unmapped territorial dominion , " addedNick Pinkine , the Parker Solar Probe mission operations manager at the Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland .
Parker launched in 2018 to help oneself decode some of the braggy secret about our sun , such as why its outermost bed , the Saint Elmo’s light , heats up as it travel further from the sun ’s surface , and what processes accelerate charged particles to near - light stop number . In gain to revolutionizing our understanding about the Lord’s Day , the probe also caught rare closeup of pass comet and meditate the surface of Venus .
On Christmas Eve , the probe vaporize through feather of plasma still attached to the Dominicus , where it keep solar flares occurring simultaneously due toramped - up turbulenceon the sun ’s open . The dramatic flares can trip breathless cockcrow on Earth but also disruptcommunication systemsand other technology .
" The sun is doing different thing than it did when we first launched,“Nicholeen Viall , who is a co - investigator for the WISPR instrument onboard Parker Solar Probe , narrate reporter at the AGU get together . " That is really cool because it is making different types of solar winds and solar storms . "
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Parker ’s 4.5 - in - thick heat shield is designed to endure temperature of up to 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit ( 1,371 degrees Celsius ) , part thanks to a specially - designed whitened finishing that will reflect much of the sun ’s heat and assist keep ballistic capsule instruments at a well-fixed way temperature .
But scientist expected that during this flyby , Parker experienced lower temperatures of about 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit ( 982 degrees Celsius),Elizabeth Congdon , the jumper cable engineer for the investigation ’s thermal protection system , differentiate newsman at AGU .
" It ’s really bully to see all the skill that is enabled by the fact that we overprepared . "
