NASA spacecraft touches Sun’s atmosphere, breaking record

On Dec. 24, 2024, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe made history with the closest ever approach to the Sun

By Matthew Rozsa

Staff Writer

Published December 24, 2024 5:46PM (EST)

Artist’s concept of the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft approaching the sun. (NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben)
Artist’s concept of the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft approaching the sun. (NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben)

The concept of touching the Sun can be traced back to the ancient Greek myth of Icarus, but scientists at NASA have turned that idea into a reality. On Dec. 24th, their Parker Solar Probe managed to travel to just within 3.86 million miles (6.1 million kilometers) of the Sun’s surface, a new record. The probe, which is roughly the size of a small car, has now become the human-made object to come closest to touching the Sun among everything our species has created.

“Moving at up to 430,000 miles per hour (692,017 km per hour), the spacecraft endures temperatures up to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit (982 degrees Celsius) as it flies through the tenuous outer atmosphere of the Sun called the corona to help scientists better understand our closest star,” the scientists write on their website. If the probe were to travel on Earth at that same velocity, it could move from Los Angeles to New York City in only 20 seconds.

Overall, this is the 22nd time the Parker Solar Probe has made a close approach to the Sun. According to the program director, Arik Posner, the solar explorations are part of NASA’s broader ambition to reach new frontiers in space exploration.

“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,” Arik told Earth.com. Because the probe is currently very close to the Sun, scientists are not able to communicate with it, but they hope to receive a beacon tone on Dec. 27th to confirm the probe has survived.

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