02:22 PM Wednesday 03 January 2024
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is set to fly by the sun this year, an unprecedented moment in the history of space exploration.
The probe, which was launched on August 12, 2018, is scheduled to fly by the Sun at a speed of 195 kilometers per second, on December 24, 2024.
NASA describes the mission on its website as a “sun-touch” mission, with the goal of obtaining “the first ever sample of a star’s atmosphere.”
Nour Rawafi, the scientist involved in the project, said: “We are about to land on a star. This will be a huge achievement for all of humanity, equivalent to landing on the moon in 1969.”
NASA says the mission aims to help us gain a deeper understanding of the Sun, as the probe orbits closer to the Sun’s surface, closer than ever before and within Mercury’s orbit.
The probe collects measurements and images to help scientists learn more about where the solar wind comes from and how it develops.
It also makes “critical contributions to predicting changes in the space environment that affect life and technology on Earth.”
The probe will encounter intense heat and radiation during its journey, and will fly “more than 7 times closer to the sun than any spacecraft.”
Dr. Nikki Fox, NASA’s chief science officer, said they don’t know what they will find on the mission, “but we will be looking for waves in the solar wind associated with heating.”
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