NASA’s Parker Solar Probe will fly past the sun on December 24th of next year at an incredible speed of 435,000 mph (195 km/s), which is expected to be a watershed moment in the history of space exploration.
Compared to our star, it is only 6.1 million kilometers, 3.8 million miles from its “surface”; nothing man-made can move so fast and so close.
“We are very close to landing on a star,” said Parker project scientist Dr. Noor Raouafi.
Scientists at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory told the BBC: “This is a great achievement for all of humanity. It’s like landing on the moon in 1969.” Parker travels at great speed due to gravity as he approaches the Sun. This is like flying 30 seconds faster from New York to London.
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is one of the boldest ever launched.
It was launched in 2018 and aims to be closer to the sun.
During training in late 2024, Parker will reach 4% of the distance between the Sun and Earth (149 million km/93 million miles). Parker’s job is very difficult. Temperatures in front of the spacecraft can reach 1,400 degrees Celsius at perihelion, the point in the probe’s orbit closest to the star.
