A few hours ago, NASA received a signal from the beacon of the Parker Solar Probe probe, which on December 24 approached the Sun at a record distance and lost contact. As soon as the probe emerged from behind the star, the automation reported that the device was fully operational. Concerns about this were not unfounded: with such a rapprochement, the probe entered the upper layers of the Sun’s atmosphere and could be subjected to temperature loads incompatible with its continued existence.
Image source: NASA
The task force at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, received the signal shortly before midnight local time on the night of December 26 (December 27 at 08:00 Moscow time). The team lost contact with the spacecraft during closest approach, which occurred on December 24, when Parker Solar Probe passed just 6.1 million km from the surface of the Sun, moving at a speed of about 192 km/s. The spacecraft is expected to send detailed telemetry data about its status on January 1.
The probe is studying the Sun at close range, giving scientists the ability to make measurements that will help better understand how matter in this region of space heats up to millions of degrees, trace the origins of the solar wind (the continuous flow of material leaving the Sun) and discover the mechanisms that accelerate energetic particles to speeds close to the speed of light. Previous encounters have helped scientists pinpoint the origin of structures in the solar wind and map the outer limit of the Sun’s atmosphere.
The Parker Solar Probe was developed as part of NASA’s Living with a Star program to study details of the Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. The Living with a Star program is managed by Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. APL designed, built and operates the spacecraft and manages the mission for NASA.