NASA’s Parker Solar Probe continues its record-setting, ultra-close approaches to the Sun: on December 24, 2024, it came within 6 million kilometers (3.8 million miles) above the Sun’s surface. With that close approach, it broke the record to continue the mission of understanding the solar atmosphere. This latest successful flyby greatly boosts the continued exploration of our Sun’s corona, which started in August 2018.
The Parker probe, which made its initial record-breaking flyby in 2018, has since used multiple gravity-assist maneuvers around Venus to bring it closer to the Sun. On December 24, the spacecraft hit a velocity of about 692,000 km/h (430,000 mph) – making it the fastest human-made object in history, approximately 0.064% the speed of light. Immediately after this close approach, the probe sent a beacon signal that it had passed safely and was continuing operations; it was received two days later on December 26, 2024.
At such extreme distances, the Parker Solar Probe conducts groundbreaking science operations with huge gains in understanding of solar wind and space weather processes. Its extremely elliptical orbit will let it enter the Sun’s atmosphere multiple times, enabling scientists to study the acceleration of solar wind and other related phenomena.
One of the most significant features of the Parker Solar Probe is its ability to withstand the harsh conditions of the solar corona. The spacecraft is equipped with a specially designed carbon foam shield that can endure temperatures ranging from 980°C to 1,425°C (1,800°F to 2,600°F), protecting the sensitive instruments onboard. This shield is critical to the probe’s success as it continues its mission to uncover the Sun’s deepest mysteries.
Among those findings, the Parker Solar Probe has already made some remarkable ones: it explained the source of “switchbacks,” or zig-zag patterns in the solar wind, and it mapped the Sun’s outer atmosphere with some features never seen before. Continuing its mission, the probe is expected to make further insights into solar phenomena and space weather with their wide-reaching effects on the Solar System, including Earth.
It will make subsequent close approaches on March 22, 2025, and June 19, 2025, in its ongoing pioneering work regarding the solar sciences.
