Dec 23, 2024 - Energy & Climate

NASA probe to fly closer to the Sun than ever before

Rebecca Falconer

An illustration of NASA's Parker Solar Probe approaching the sun. Image: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben

NASA's Parker Solar Probe will make history during a flight around the Sun on Christmas Eve.

Why it matters: "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 the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Maryland, in a statement.

The project aims to "answer longstanding questions about our universe," per a statement from Arik Posner, Parker Solar Probe program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The big picture: Parker became in 2018 the first spacecraft to enter the Sun's corona, the outermost part of the star's atmosphere that can be seen during a total solar eclipse.

The probe aims to again "touch" the Sun when it flies up to about 430,000 mph at its closest approach "just 3.8 million miles" from the surface of the star at 6:53am on Tuesday ET, per NASA.
Scientists have been using Parker to study the heating of the solar corona and explore what accelerates the solar wind in the hope they can better predict dangerous space weather that can disrupt communications on Earth and also light up the skies with auroras.

What we're watching: During its closest approach mission operations will be out of contact with the spacecraft, which NASA notes can travel in temperatures up to 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit.

Parker is scheduled to transmit a beacon tone on Friday to confirm its health following the close flyby, according to the space agency.

Flashback: Parker Solar Probe breaks record for traveling closest to the sun

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NASA probe to fly closer to the Sun than ever before

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