Context: In March 2025, NASA's Parker Solar Probe performed its latest flyby, passing within 8 million miles (6.1 million kilometers) of the surface of the sun. Flying at a record-breaking speed of 692,000 kilometers per hour, it shattered its own previous record made in December last year.
Relevance of the topic: Prelims: Key facts about the Parker Solar Probe.
Major Highlights:
- On 24 December 2024, the Parker Solar probe made its closest approach to the Sun, coming to a distance of 6.1 million km (0.04 AU) from the surface.
- Its beacon signal was received on 26 December, showing that it had survived the passage through the corona (survived the heat).
- The spacecraft has become the closest ever artificial object to the Sun.
- Significance: The flyby is a major step forward in understanding the Sun and its impact on our solar system.
About Parker Solar Probe
- The Parker Solar Probe was launched in 2018 to make observations of the Sun's outer corona.
- Mission of: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
- Aim:
- Trace the flow of energy that heats the solar corona and accelerates the solar wind.
- Determine the structure and dynamics of the plasma and magnetic fields.
- Explore mechanisms that accelerate and transport energetic particles.
- The spacecraft has become the closest ever artificial object to the Sun. It has circled gradually closer to the sun, flying past Venus in order to use the planet’s gravity to move it into a tighter orbit.
- The spacecraft's systems are protected from the extreme heat and radiation near the Sun by a solar shield.
- The solar shield is mounted on the Sun-facing side of the spacecraft.
- It is made from reinforced carbon–carbon composite with a carbon foam core.
- It is designed to withstand temperatures outside the spacecraft of over 1370 °C.
The mission represents a huge step forward in our understanding of the Sun. Scientists are hopeful that the information it provides will help us learn not only about our star but also about how other stars in the universe work.