NASA’s Parker Solar Probe broke all the records and made history by being the closest-ever approach to the Sun on December 24, flying at a distance of just 3.8 million miles from the solar surface and moving at a speed of 430,000 miles per hour.
Sharing particulars about the remarkable achievement the official account of NASA wrote on X, “Parker Solar Probe has phoned home! After passing just 3.8 million miles from the solar surface on Dec. 24 the closest solar flyby in history we have received Parker Solar Probe’s beacon tone confirming the spacecraft is safe.”
Transmission from the park following its closest approach to the Sun indicates that it is in good health and operating normally. It is expected that the spacecraft will relay its detailed telemetry data on its status on January 1.
The closest approach to the Sun would have allowed the spacecraft to conduct a close-up study and take measurements to understand the cause for the increased temperature of the materials in this region reaching millions of degrees. It is also expected to trace solar wind’s origin and uncover the acceleration of energetic particles to near-light speed.
The spacecraft lost contact with the mission operations team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory(APL) in Laurel, Maryland on December 24 during its closest approach. The contact was restored at midnight on December 26 when the team received the signal from the spacecraft.
