In August 2018, NASA launched the Parker solar probe to make it the first spacecraft to fly through the Sun’s upper atmosphere, and the instrument has since traveled through the solar system to perform a historical approach to the brightest star in our universe, scheduled for next December 24.
Upon arrival of the aforementioned date, Parker will complete the first landing of a human object on a star and, after achieving this milestone, NASA will gain a deeper understanding of the Sun to collect measurements and images. Additionally, scientists will understand where the solar wind comes from, make critical contributions to forecasting changes in the space environment that affect life on Earth, understand the origin of solar storms, and provide insight. clearer view of how the Sun influences the space environment.
This will be the approach of the Parker probe to the Sun
On December 24, Parker will be placed about six million kilometers from the surface of the Suntaking into account that it will become the space instrument that has been placed closest to the star in the solar system. Likewise, the approach to this distance is equivalent to nine times the radius of the Sun, It will be done at a speed of 692,000 kilometers per hour and it will be the first of several that will take place until June 2025.
On the other hand, this probe will orbit the outside of the Sun to make “unparalleled” and “unprecedented” measurements of the region, as Cristian Ferradas, a space physicist from the Heliophysics division of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, points out to the EFE agency.
Parker withstands very high temperatures
NASA explains in its official blog that, to carry out the established investigations, the Parker solar probe and its instruments are protected from the Sun by a carbon composite shield 11.43 centimeters thickwhich can withstand temperatures reaching almost 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,377 Celsius).
Therefore, it ‘survives’ the harsh conditions of the Sun because cutting-edge thermal engineering advances protect the spacecraft during its “dangerous journey.”
What is NASA’s Parker Solar Probe?
Parker is a NASA space solar probe that aims study and monitor the behavior of the Sun and the outer solar coronaIn addition, it collects measurements and images to expand scientists’ knowledge of the origin and evolution of the solar wind.
However, to achieve these purposes, the probe It has four sets of instruments —a field experiment, an integrated scientific investigation of the Sun, a wide-field imager, and alpha electrons plus protons from the solar wind—that are designed to analyze magnetic fields, plasma, and energetic particles.
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