NASA spacecraft makes history as it survives closest-ever approach to the sun

27 December 2024, 14:59

A NASA spacecraft is safe and sound after making the closest-ever approach to the sun on Tuesday in a bid to get a better understanding of how it works.

NASA’'s Parker solar probe raced past the sun at 435,000mph - fast enough to travel from London to New York in 29 seconds.

The unmanned spacecraft got within 3.8 million miles of the sun, within the corona, or outer atmosphere.

Parker endured temperatures of 1,400C as it hurtled towards our closet star.

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NASA scientists faced a tense wait to find out if the mission had been a success, but received the all-clear signal on Boxing Day evening.

"Following its record-breaking closest approach to the sun, NASA's Parker Solar Probe has transmitted a beacon tone back to Earth indicating it's in good health and operating normally," NASA said.

Speaking earlier this week, Yanping Guo, mission design and navigation manager, said they were confident the mission would be a success.

"It's like a baby to me," she told Sky News. "But I'm pretty confident we will hear good news and get more data from the spacecraft."

Parker has been in space since August 2018, and this was its 22nd orbit of the sun - and the closest it will ever get.

Scientists hope that the spacecraft will send back a huge trove of data that will help them understand the sun better.

In particular, they want to understand why the outer atmosphere of the sun reaches 1 million degrees, but the surface is only around 6,000C.

Professor Tim Horbury of Imperial College London said: "I'm incredibly lucky to be at this moment in my career when finally this mission is flying so we can do the science we've wanted to do for decades.

"The science is great, but the engineering achievement is extraordinary. It's an extraordinary environment in which to travel."

Researchers also want to understand how the sun generates solar winds.

Prof Horbury said they drive our aurora on Earth but can also be harmful to us.

He said: "The radiation can damage astronauts, it can knock out satellites and even have effects on the ground, for example, on the power grid," he said.