The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced on Friday that the Parker Solar Probe is "healthy" and functioning normally after successfully reaching the closest point to the Sun ever achieved by any man-made object.
On December 24, the spacecraft passed just 6.1 million kilometers from the Sun’s surface and flew through its outer atmosphere, known as the corona, on a mission to help scientists learn more about the Sun, the closest star to Earth.
NASA stated that the operations team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland received a signal from the probe before midnight on Thursday. They added that the spacecraft is expected to send detailed measurements about its condition on January 1.
NASA’s website noted that the spacecraft traveled at speeds of up to 692,000 kilometers per hour and was exposed to temperatures of up to 982°C.
NASA added, “This close study of the Sun allows the Parker Solar Probe to take measurements that help scientists better understand how materials in this region heat to millions of degrees, track the origin of the solar wind (a continuous flow of material escaping from the Sun), and discover how active particles are accelerated to speeds approaching the speed of light.”
Joseph Westlake, NASA’s Director of Solar Physics, told Reuters, “We are rewriting textbooks about how the Sun works using data from this probe.”
He added, “This mission was theoretical in the 1950s,” pointing out that, “It’s an amazing achievement to develop technologies that allow us to delve deeper into understanding how the Sun works.”
The Parker Solar Probe was launched in 2018 and has been gradually approaching the Sun by flying close to Venus, using the planet’s gravity to pull it into a tighter orbit with the Sun.
Westlake stated that the team is preparing for more flight missions in the extended mission phase, hoping to capture unique events.
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