The
Parker Solar Probe now holds the
record for closest approach to the sun by a human-made object. The spacecraft – which launched on August 12, 2018 –
passed the current record of 26.55 million miles (43 million km) from the sun’s
surface
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The previous record for closest solar approach was set by the
German-American Helios 2 spacecraft in April 1976.
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As the Parker Solar Probe mission progresses, the spacecraft will
repeatedly break its own records, with a final close approach of 3.83 million
miles (6.2 million km) from the sun’s surface expected in 2024.
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Parker Solar Probe is also expected to break the record for
fastest spacecraft traveling relative to the sun, also on October 29. The
current record for heliocentric speed is 153,454 miles per hour, set by Helios
2 in April 1976.
About the
mission:
NASA’s
historic Parker Solar Probe mission will revolutionize our understanding of the
sun, where changing conditions can propagate out into the solar system,
affecting Earth and other worlds. Parker Solar Probe will travel through the
sun’s atmosphere, closer to the surface than any spacecraft before it, facing
brutal heat and radiation conditions — and ultimately providing humanity with
the closest-ever observations of a star.
The
primary science goals for the mission are to trace how energy and heat move
through the solar corona and to explore what accelerates the solar wind as well
as solar energetic particles.
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