NASA's Parker Solar Probe is set to make a historic flyby of the Sun on December 24, 2024, coming within 6.1 million kilometers of its surface. This will mark humanity's closest encounter with a star.
The spacecraft, traveling at speeds up to 692,000 kilometers per hour, will be the fastest human-made object ever. To illustrate this distance, NASA scientist Joe Westlake compared it to a football field, stating that if the Sun and Earth were on opposite ends, the Parker Solar Probe would be on the 4-yard line.
Launched on August 12, 2018, the Parker Solar Probe has been on a mission to unravel the mysteries of the Sun and understand solar phenomena. In December 2021, it became the first spacecraft to successfully fly through the Sun's corona, sampling particles and magnetic fields.
The upcoming flyby is the first of three final close approaches, with additional ones scheduled for March 22 and June 19, 2025. At this proximity, the probe will be able to fly through solar plasma and potentially within a solar eruption.
The spacecraft's thermal shield can withstand temperatures exceeding one million degrees Celsius, while its internal instruments operate at a stable temperature of around 29 degrees Celsius. This remarkable design allows the probe to endure extreme conditions while gathering valuable data.
Understanding the Sun's outer atmosphere, particularly the corona, is crucial for deciphering the origins of solar wind and the mechanisms behind coronal mass ejections. These phenomena can impact Earth, causing geomagnetic storms that may disrupt satellite communications and electrical infrastructure.
As the Parker Solar Probe embarks on this unprecedented journey, scientists anticipate a wealth of new knowledge that could deepen our understanding of the universe and enhance future space exploration missions.