Parker probe sends telemetry of its closest solar approach

Jan. 3 () –

Eight days after its record approach to the Sun, NASA’s Parker solar probe has confirmed that its equipment is functioning normally, including data collection during the flyby.

Breaking his previous record by flying just 6.1 million kilometers from the solar surface While moving at about 692,000 kilometers per hour, this craft traveled through space faster than any object created by humans before. NASA reports.

A beacon tone, received at the mission operations center at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) on Thursday, December 26, confirmed that the spacecraft had passed the encounter safely.

The telemetry (or maintenance data) that APL began receiving on January 1 provided more details about the status and operational condition of the spacecraft. For example, showed that Parker had executed the commands that had been programmed in their flight computers before the flyby, and that its scientific instruments were operational during the flyby itself.

Telemetry transmission, via NASA’s Deep Space Network, continued through Thursday. Scientific data transmission will begin at the end of this monthwhen the spacecraft and its more powerful onboard antenna are in better alignment with Earth to transmit at higher data rates. The Parker Solar Probe’s next two approaches to the Sun, at approximately the same distance and speed, will occur on March 22 and June 19.

This close-up study of the Sun allows the Parker Solar Probe to take measurements that help scientists better understand how material in this region is heated to millions of degrees, trace the origin of the solar wind (a continuous flow of material escaping of the Sun), and discover how energetic particles accelerate to near the speed of light.

Previous close passes have helped scientists identify the origins of structures in the solar wind and map the outer limit of the Sun’s atmosphere.

The mission has been preparing to reach this historic milestone since its launch on August 12, 2018, an event attended by the probe’s namesake, Dr. Eugene Parkera pioneering astrophysicist in the solar research field of heliophysics.