IT House December 15 news, 60 years after NASA set the goal, but also 3 years after the launch of the Parker Solar Probe, the spacecraft has become the first spacecraft to "touch the sun". The Parker Solar Probe successfully passed through the Sun's corona, the outermost layer of the Sun's atmosphere, in April 2021 to sample particles and the Sun's magnetic field.
Thomas Zulbhen, deputy director of NASA's Science Mission Bureau, said in a statement: "The Parker Solar Probe's 'contact with the sun' is an immortal moment in solar science and a truly remarkable feat. Not only does this milestone give us a deeper understanding of the evolution of our sun and its impact on our solar system, but everything we know about our own stars also gives us more insight into stars elsewhere in the universe. ”
The Parker Solar Probe was launched in 2018, and scientists, including the spacecraft's co-named astrophysicist Eugene Parker, wanted to answer some fundamental questions about the solar wind, which flows out of the sun and throws high-energy particles across the solar system.
This illustration shows the Parker Solar Probe reaching the Sun's corona
The Sun's corona is much hotter than the Sun's actual surface, with the corona peaking at 1 million Kelvin (1 million degrees Celsius) and its surface being about 6,000 Kelvin (5,700 degrees Celsius).
It will also approach the Sun 21 times in 7 years before the Parker Solar Probe's mission is completed. The probe will fly within 3.9 million miles of the sun's surface in 2024, closer to the sun than the closest planet to the sun, Mercury.
When closest to the sun, the 4.5-inch-thick carbon composite solar shield will have to withstand temperatures close to 2500 degrees Fahrenheit (about 1371.11 degrees Celsius). However, the interior of the spacecraft and its instruments will be kept at a comfortable room temperature.
The Parker spacecraft moved in and out of the corona several times over several hours during its April overflight, which helped the researchers understand that the boundary, known as the Alfin Pro interface, is not a smooth circle around the sun. Instead, it has spikes and valley floors.
During the overflight, Parker made another remarkable encounter as he passed 6.5 million miles above the sun's surface. It passes through a region known as a false meteor, a large structure that rises on the surface of the Sun and is observed from Earth during a solar eclipse.
It House learned that Parker's first crossing of the corona lasted only a few hours, but it would continue to hover close to the sun. The spacecraft's next solar overflight is scheduled for January 2022.