Exciting news for solar researchers! NASA has a special Christmas gift planned for Tuesday, December 24 – the Parker Solar Probe will make its closest ever pass to the Sun, just 6.1 million kilometers away. This is a historic moment as no spacecraft has ever ventured this close before. The Probe will reach similar distances in 2025, but nothing beats the thrill of a first passage.
Did you know that physicists once calculated that Santa Claus would need to travel at an astonishing speed of 10 million kilometers per hour to deliver presents to every child? Dr. Katy Sheen from the University of Exeter suggested that at this speed, relativistic effects could explain some of the magical aspects of the Christmas tale.
NASA is breaking records with the Parker Solar Probe, which holds the title for the fastest human-made object. Its current speed record is an impressive 635,266 kilometers per hour, a fraction of the speed of flying reindeer!
The Probe follows an elongated orbit that takes it close to Venus and even closer to the Sun. Each time it passes Venus, the Probe gets a gravitational boost, allowing it to reach even greater speeds and closer distances to the Sun.
The latest encounter with Venus happened on November 6, propelling the Probe to its closest approach yet. Tomorrow, it will reach speeds of around 692,017.9 kilometers per hour, getting within a million kilometers of the Sun. The mission has already braved the Sun’s atmosphere and a coronal mass ejection, but this closer pass will test its limits.
Scientists eagerly await the data Parker will send back, but transmissions have been temporarily blocked due to its proximity to the Sun. Once communication resumes on Friday, we can expect groundbreaking insights from this unprecedented mission.
“This is one example of NASA’s bold missions, doing something that no one else has ever done before to answer longstanding questions about our universe,” said NASA’s Dr. Arik Posner. The Parker Solar Probe is truly venturing into uncharted territory, returning valuable data from the heart of our solar system.
