Parker Solar Probe: Latest Milestone and Safety Near the Sun

Kazi Abul Monsur,Journalist#

The Parker Solar Probe, launched in August 2018, is a NASA mission designed to “touch” the Sun, coming closer than any spacecraft in history. Its primary objectives are to study the Sun’s corona, the solar wind, and the mechanisms behind solar phenomena that affect space weather. As of its recent update, the probe completed one of its closest perihelion passes, traveling at speeds exceeding 430,000 miles per hour (700,000 kilometers per hour) and coming within 4.3 million miles (6.9 million kilometers) of the Sun’s surface. This is closer than ever before, allowing scientists to gather unprecedented data.

During such passes, the Parker Solar Probe encounters extreme conditions:
Temperatures over 2,500°F (1,370°C). Intense radiation levels. Supersonic solar wind and high-energy particles.Its heat shield, made from reinforced carbon-carbon composite material, ensures that the instruments remain operational at room temperature, despite the harsh environment.

Recent Discoveries
The Parker Solar Probe has made several groundbreaking discoveries:

Magnetic Switchbacks: It confirmed the existence of S-shaped kinks in the Sun’s magnetic field, called switchbacks. These provide insights into how energy and particles flow in the solar wind.

Dust-Free Zone: The probe found evidence of a region near the Sun where dust vaporizes due to intense heat. This “dust-free zone” had been theorized but never observed until now.

Solar Wind Origins: By studying particles and electromagnetic fields up close, the probe has helped identify regions where the solar wind originates.

Coronal Heating Mystery: Data suggests processes within the corona that heat it to millions of degrees, far hotter than the Sun’s surface. Understanding this could solve a century-old mystery.

Impact on Science
Space Weather Forecasting: Data from the probe helps scientists predict solar storms that can disrupt Earth’s satellites, power grids, and communication systems.
Astrophysical Insights: The mission sheds light on universal plasma dynamics, applicable to stars beyond our Sun.
Future Prospects
The Parker Solar Probe will make a total of 24 orbits around the Sun, gradually reducing its distance with each pass. By the mission’s end in 2025, it will have approached within 3.83 million miles (6.16 million kilometers) of the Sun’s surface.

According to international media, National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (Nasa) said on Friday that its Parker Solar Probe was “safe” and operating normally after successfully completing the closest-ever approach to the Sun by any human-made object. The spacecraft passed just 3.8 million miles (6.1m km) from the solar surface on December 24, flying into the sun’s outer atmosphere called the corona, on a mission to help scientists learn more about Earth’s closest star. The agency said the operations team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland received the signal, a beacon tone, from the probe just before midnight on Thursday.

The spacecraft is expected to send detailed telemetry data about its status on January 1, Nasa added. Moving at up to 430,000 mph (692,000 kph), the spacecraft endured temperatures of up to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit (982 degrees Celsius), according to the Nasa website.

“This close-up study of the Sun allows Parker Solar Probe to take measurements that help scientists better understand how material in this region gets heated to millions of degrees, trace the origin of the solar wind (a continuous flow of material escaping the Sun), and discover how energetic particles are accelerated to near light speed,” the agency added.

The Parker Solar Probe was launched in 2018 and has been gradually circling closer towards the sun, using flybys of Venus to gravitationally pull it into a tighter orbit with the sun.##