NASA’s Parker Solar Probe sets 17th Sun orbit speed record
A NASA spacecraft on a mission to “touch the Sun,” Park Solar Probe, completed its 17th close approach to the Sun. The mission broke its own distance record by skimming just 4.51 million miles (7.26 million kilometers) from the solar surface, according to NASA.
In 2021, the spacecraft made history as the first spacecraft to travel through the corona–the Sun’s upper atmosphere, marking a significant milestone in space exploration.
While striving to comprehend the Sun better, the probe orbits closer to it, enduring intense heat and radiation.
Overcoming hurdles
Now, the probe has crossed major hurdles but overcame them by using the gravitational pull of Venus to help it move closer to the Sun. This close approach happened at 7:28 pm EDT, and the craft was moving really fast, setting another speed record at 394,736 miles per hour (635,266 kilometers per hour) around the Sun.
Yanping Guo, mission design and navigation manager at APL, stated in the NASA blog that Parker’s velocity is roughly 8.7 miles per second. Considering that the craft is moving at an incredibly fast pace, making a small adjustment to its speed and direction might seem unimportant or insignificant.
“However, the maneuver is critical to get us the desired gravity assist at Venus, which will significantly change Parker’s speed and distance to the Sun,” added Guo.
NASA said the milestone also marked the midway point in the mission’s 17th solar encounter, which began September 22 and continued through October 3.
Breaking records and collecting data
Michael Buckley from Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory stated: “The spacecraft entered the encounter in good health, with all systems operating normally.”
Buckley further noted that the Parker Solar Probe is scheduled to check back in with mission operators at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. They plan to send a stream of telemetry (status data) on October 1.
As part of its scientific data collection mission, the probe is focused on gathering information about the solar wind’s properties, structure, and behavior as it travels from the Sun to Earth. This data collection will take place between October 4 and 19.
The probe is setting yet another record, capturing data scientists can use to learn more about where solar winds come from and how they change over time.
This information helps predict space weather changes that could affect life on Earth. According to Popular Science, the probe recently flew through a powerful solar storm, and this helped scientists confirm a theory about how these storms interact with space dust.
This discovery will make it easier for experts to predict space weather in the future.
Science Alert also reported that the NASA spacecraft’s speed would theoretically enable an airplane to circle the Earth about 15 times in an hour or travel between New York City and Los Angeles in just 20 seconds. However, such a speedy voyage would make it impossible for passengers to survive.
Source: Interesting Engineering
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe sets 17th Sun orbit speed record