The Parker Solar Probe will “touch the Sun” this Christmas. On December 24, 2024, according to available information, it will fly by at a speed of 435,000 mph, or 195 km/s.
The goal of this mission is to obtain the first ever sample of the atmosphere there. “Basically, we almost land on that star,” he stated researcher Nour Raouafi in an interview with the BBC.
“It will be a monumental achievement for all of humanity. It is the equivalent of landing on the moon in 1969,” he added.
Parker Solar Probe will face extreme heat and radiation during this flyby, as it will be “more than seven times closer to the Sun than any previous probe”.
NASA’s Nicky Fox said she and her colleagues have no idea what exactly they’ll find, but they want to focus on the solar wind — specifically, “looking for waves associated with heating.”
The Parker Solar Probe is already making measurements and taking images that are helping scientists learn more about exactly where the solar wind comes from and how it evolves.
2024-01-03 18:46:08
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