NASA’s Parker Solar Probe continues its groundbreaking mission, preparing for another record-breaking encounter with the Sun. On December 24th, the spacecraft will achieve its closest approach yet, passing a mere 6.1 million kilometres from the solar surface. This milestone marks the 22nd orbit around our star and the first of three planned closest approaches during the mission.
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Launched in 2018, the Parker Solar Probe is designed to complete 24 orbits. “No human-made object has ever passed this close to a star,” emphasized Nick Pinkine, Parker Solar Probe mission operations manager at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, in a NASA blog post. “We’re excited to hear back from the spacecraft when it swings back around the Sun.”
At its closest approach, the Parker Solar Probe will be traveling at an astonishing speed of approximately 692,000 kilometres per hour. The spacecraft will confirm its health on December 27th, once it has moved to a safe distance from the Sun to resume communications.
