Nasa spacecraft ‘safe’ after closest-ever approach to Sun

Nasa on Friday confirmed that its Parker Solar Probe spacecraft is “safe” after becoming the first “human-made object” in history to fly dangerously close to the Sun.

The US space agency said Parker, which on Tuesday made its record flyby of the Sun — just 6.1 million km — from the solar surface, transmitted a beacon tone on Friday to confirm its health after the close flyby.

During its closest approach or perihelion flyby to the Sun, the spacecraft was not in contact with mission operations on Earth. It was moving at about 430,000 miles per hour.

“Parker Solar Probe has phoned home! After passing just 3.8 million miles from the solar surface on Dec.24 — the closest solar flyby in history — we have received Parker Solar Probe’s beacon tone confirming the spacecraft is safe,” Nasa said in a post on social media platform X.

This indicates “it’s in good health and operating normally,” said Michael Buckley, part of the mission operations team at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland, in a Nasa blog post.

Buckley said that the signal was received “just before midnight EST, on the night of Dec.26.”

The spacecraft is expected to send back detailed telemetry data on its status on Jan.1.

Launched in 2018, the Parker Solar Probe aims to explore the mysteries of the Sun. This is the first of its three final and closest approaches to the Sun’s surface.

“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,” Buckley said.

Parker has to date completed 21 close approaches to the Sun. The 21st close approach to the Sun was made on Sept.30.

These close passes have enabled scientists to identify the origins of structures in the solar wind. They also could map the outer boundary of the Sun’s atmosphere.

The spacecraft also zoomed past Venus seven times to use its gravity to aim toward a record-setting series of flights around the Sun.

On Nov.6, Parker completed its seventh and final Venus gravity-assist manoeuvre, passing within 387 kilometers of Venus’ surface.

Indo-Asian News Service