WASHINGTON (AP) — NASA’s Parker Solar Probe will make history December 24 when it flies within 3.8 million miles of the Sun’s surface, marking the closest approach any human-made object has made to our star.
The spacecraft, launched in August 2018, will reach speeds of 430,000 miles per hour as it navigates temperatures up to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit during its Christmas Eve flyby. A specialized heat shield maintains the probe’s internal temperature at 85 degrees Fahrenheit despite the extreme external conditions.
This milestone follows the probe’s seventh and final Venus flyby in November, which used the planet’s gravity to adjust its solar orbit. The mission has already achieved several breakthroughs, including becoming the first spacecraft to enter the Sun’s corona in 2021.
“This approach has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the Sun,” said [NASA SCIENTIST NAME], noting the probe will study solar wind origins, corona heating, and energy flow across the star’s surface.
The spacecraft’s 8-foot-diameter heat shield, made of carbon composite materials and coated with heat-reflecting ceramic paint, protects its scientific instruments from the intense solar radiation.
The Christmas Eve approach is the first of three planned passes at this record distance. Data collected could help explain why the Sun’s corona is 200 times hotter than its surface and improve space weather predictions affecting Earth.
The probe, already the fastest human-made object in history, can cover the distance from Washington, D.C., to Philadelphia in one second at its peak velocity.
