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A NASA spacecraft passed very close to the shining sun today. By doing this, NASA has created a record which no one has been able to make till date and hardly anyone will be able to make in the future. Let us talk about this in detail…
While the Sun shining in space is life-saving for the Earth, the Sun is also capable of destroying the Earth. Till date no one has been able to go even close to this star, but American space agency NASA’s spacecraft Parker Solar Probe (PSP) has achieved this feat. Yes, the spacecraft passed very close to the shining sun today on 24 December 2024 at around 7 am.
The Parker Solar Probe (PSP) spacecraft traveled through the Sun’s outer atmosphere. It remained 3.8 million miles (6.1 million kilometers) from the Sun’s surface. The spacecraft’s speed during this period was 430,000 miles per hour (692,000 kilometers per hour). This is the record for the closest pass to a star by a man-made object, which no one has done before and nothing can be said about the future.
Spacecraft capable of withstanding such temperatures
According to media reports, while traveling this distance, the spacecraft collected data to study the high temperature of the Sun. For the closest passes to the Sun, the spacecraft was designed to withstand temperatures up to 1800 °F (980 °C). Its heat shield was made of carbon foam, which was capable of withstanding temperatures up to 1377 degrees Celsius. The shield was made from this foam only after testing. The spacecraft will now pass very close to the Sun on 22 March 2025 and 19 June 2025.
The fastest thing ever made by man
According to media reports, the spacecraft was designed at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL). The spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, US on August 12, 2018 to study the Sun’s outer corona. It is the first spacecraft to go directly into the Sun’s atmosphere. It will be about 4 million miles from the Sun’s surface. It will revolve in an elliptical orbit around the Sun.
This spacecraft is the fastest man-made object ever built. The spacecraft will also study the structure of the Sun’s corona, magnetic field and solar wind as well as their activities. This will provide information about weather in space and its effect on Earth. It will also provide information about solar storms originating from the outer layer of the Sun, as these solar storms affect satellites and electronic gadgets.