There was great expectation among NASA and also among the scientific community and astronomy lovers, to know if the Parker solar probe would successfully complete its approach to the Sun, something that happened a few days ago.
However, NASA had to wait a few hours to receive any kind of communication from the probe after approaching the Sun and then moving away, and until now it was not known whether the mission had been a success or a failure.
Luckily, as just reported by NASAthe Parker solar probe has managed to transmit the expected signal to Earth, indicating that, after carrying out the approach mission, is in good condition.
Specifically, NASA engineers received the signal just before midnight on December 26. It should be noted that the team had not had contact with the spacecraft since December 24 when it approached the Sun.
The Parker probe It approached just 6.1 million kilometers from the surface of the Sun. Never before had an element created by humans achieved such a milestone.
At the moment NASA has received the signal that everything is fine, but they will not receive the first telemetry data until January 1.
What NASA intends with this mission of the Parker solar probe is to understand why the Sun’s outer atmosphere is hundreds of times hotter than its surface and exactly what elements drive the solar wind.
In addition to being the element created by humans that has been closest to the Sun, it has also been the element that has managed to reach the highest speed ever achieved before, exactly 690,000 km/h.
This solar probe is equipped with a thermal shield capable of withstanding intense temperatures of up to 1370 °C, although on its approach to the Sun it had to deal with temperatures close to 1000 °C.
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