Parker Solar sample inspires with the first data according to the sun!

The Parker Solar sample recently sent a first sign of life after it has come very close to the sun. The US room trip authority NASA confirmed that the probe is in good condition and works normally. On December 24, 2024, the probe flies deep into the atmosphere of the sun and reaches unexplored regions.

When she was a flight, the Parker Solar sample came up to around six million kilometers to the sun surface. A heat shield protected the probe and its instruments during the critical moment. The signal was received by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Maryland. The earth had no contact with the probe during the greatest approach.

First data and future missions

First data on the measurements of the probe are expected in early January 2025, while scientific data is expected to be provided at the end of January. The researchers hope to gain knowledge about the temperature differences between the sun surface and its outer atmosphere. In addition, the understanding of the sun winds and solar storms are other important goals of research.

The Parker Solar sample is expected to fly on the same elliptical track and approach the sun again on March 22nd and June 2025. The probe was launched in 2018 and is named after the US astrophysician Eugene Parker, who died in 2022 at the age of 94.

technical details about the mission

The Parker Solar sample is designed to examine the sun and its surroundings. She uses seven flights past Venus to get closer to the sun and was started by NASA on August 12, 2018. In April 2021, the rehearsal was able to "touch" the sun surface for the first time by immersing it into the sun corona.

The last Venus beforehand set Parker on a course for the closest approach to the sun on December 24, 2024. With this approach, the probe will travel 7.26 million kilometers above the sun surface and will reach speeds of up to 700,000 kilometers per hour. This mission provides valuable data about sun winds and the complex magnetic fields near the sun.