Nasa’s Parker Solar Probe has successfully completed its 28th close approach to the Sun, continuing a mission that is helping scientists answer some of the biggest mysteries about the star at the centre of our solar system.
Launched in 2018, Parker Solar Probe is the first spacecraft designed to fly through the Sun’s outer atmosphere, known as the corona, gathering data from closer to the Sun than any mission before it.
The spacecraft made its 28th flyby and matched its record speed of roughly 6,87,000 kmph, maintaining its status as the fastest human-made object ever built.
After the flyby, the spacecraft checked in with mission controllers and reported that all systems were operating normally.
CLOSER TO THE SUN
The latest close pass allowed Parker to collect fresh observations of the solar wind and solar activity from deep within the corona.
Scientists have long been puzzled by several solar mysteries, including why the Sun’s outer atmosphere is far hotter than its visible surface and how the solar wind, which is a constant stream of charged particles flowing from the Sun, is accelerated to enormous speeds.
Parker was built specifically to investigate these questions.
Nasa has said that the spacecraft’s instruments are gathering unique measurements while the Sun remains in an active phase of its 11-year solar cycle, a period marked by increased solar eruptions, flares and other energetic events.
IS NASA’S PARKER IMPORTANT?
While Parker is studying the Sun, the mission has important implications for life on Earth.
Powerful solar storms can disrupt satellites, radio communications, GPS navigation systems and even electricity networks.
Therefore, understanding how solar activity develops could help scientists improve space weather forecasts and provide earlier warnings of potentially disruptive events.
Not too long ago, Parker also became the first spacecraft to touch the Sun when it entered the corona in 2021, a milestone that transformed scientists’ understanding of the solar environment.
Since then, the spacecraft has continued to break records for both speed and proximity to the Sun.
Nasa shared that Parker remains in excellent health and will continue orbiting the Sun, collecting data during future flybys.
With each close pass, the spacecraft is providing an unprecedented look at how the Sun works. Scientists hope the mission will ultimately reveal how solar activity shapes space weather across the solar system and affects planets, spacecraft and astronauts, including future human missions deeper into space.
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