Illustration obtained on July 6, 2018 from NASA/Johns Hopkins APL, showing an artistic conception of the Parker solar probe which will pass as close as possible to the Sun on Christmas Eve to study its atmosphere (NASA/Johns Hopkins APL / HO)
NASA's Parker probe came close to the Sun passing Tuesday, Christmas Eve, closer to the star than it had ever done before in order to study its atmosphere.
Launched in August 2018 for a seven-year mission, Parker must deepen scientific knowledge of our star in particular in order to unravel the secret of solar storms, which can have an impact on terrestrial communications.
The probe was due to pass next to the sun on Tuesday at 11:53 GMT, 6.1 million kilometers from the surface of the star, a close record.
However, the mission team must wait until Friday to receive a signal from the spacecraft, scientists having lost direct contact with the probe for several days due to its approach to the sun, called perihelion.
“This is the moment where we say to ourselves ‘we did it’,” said Nicky Fox, a NASA official, in a video on social networks on Tuesday.
Graphic on NASA's Parker Solar Probe (AFP / Olivia BUGAULT)
“This is an example of NASA's bold missions, accomplishing something that no one has ever achieved before to answer long-standing questions about our universe,” Arik Posner, NASA scientist, said in a statement Monday. Parker Solar Probe program.
“We look forward to receiving the first update from the ship and starting to receive scientific data in the coming weeks,” he added.
During its approach, Parker traveled at a blistering speed of about 690,000 km/h — which would take Washington to Tokyo in less than a minute.
Illustration obtained on July 6, 2018 from NASA showing an artistic conception of the Parker solar probe (NASA / HO)
The probe's heat shield endured extreme temperatures of about 870 to 930 degrees Celsius, but its internal instruments remained close to room temperature — about 29 degrees Celsius — as it explored the outermost layer of the Sun's atmosphere, called the corona.
One of Parker's objectives, in venturing into these extreme conditions, is to understand why this area is curiously 200 times hotter than the surface of the star.
This approach on Christmas Eve is the first of three record passes, with the next two — March 22 and June 19, 2025 — expected to bring Parker to a similar distance from the Sun.
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