Parker probe set to break all records as it approaches the Sun

© NASA

The holiday season is not going to be easy in Houston. At NASA headquarters, New Year's Eve will be marked by the passage, millions of kilometers from Earth, of the Parker probe at its closest approach to the Sun. It will get closer, reaching a minimum distance of 6.1 million kilometers.

Taking advantage of the gravity of the sun, the probe will accelerate significantly, reaching 690,000 km/h. It will then beat its own record for approach and speed, becoming the closest and fastest object ever built by Man.

For Nour Rawafi, head of the project, this new approach should “make history”. He points out in his speech that NASA's Parker probe has already collected a great deal of data on our Sun. He nevertheless specifies that this set of data will take years to be analyzed, understood and used by scientists around the world.

Because this closest passage to the Sun will be the closest, but also the last. By moving away from the sun, the probe will not be able to avoid Venus, and take advantage of its gravity to get closer to the Sun in the future.

Parker Solar Probe: a mission like no other

Launched in 2018, NASA's Parker probe was tasked with studying the solar corona. NASA was particularly interested in understanding how this part of our star could be so hot. With an initial mass of 685 kilograms, the probe cost the American taxpayer $1.5 billion.

Since then, the probe has been getting closer to the Sun, studying it in partnership with the Europe Solar Orbiter probe. In 2022, the two objects even managed to align perfectly to study the same packet of solar winds. For Elizabeth Congdon, chief engineer of the heat shield on the Parker probe, these adventures so close to the Sun would never have been possible without careful preparation in advance.

The heat shield, for example, is capable of withstanding temperatures of 1,371 degrees Celsius. When it descends closest to the Sun on December 24, NASA expects the surface temperature on the heat shield to reach 982 degrees Celsius.

This final trip closer to the Sun will also be an opportunity to pay tribute to Eugene Parker, after whom the probe is named. This extraordinary scientist, who laid the foundations (and more) of heliophysics (the study of the Sun).

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