NASA’s Parker Solar Probe continues to scour the sun to make history and prepares for another record-breaking approach this week. On Dec. 24 at 6:53 a.m. ET, the spacecraft’s orbit will take it just 3.8 million miles from the solar surface, according to the space agency. It will be the closest probe – or any other probe – ever to the sun. This milestone will mark the completion of the Parker Solar Probe’s 22nd orbit around our star and the first of three final closest flybys planned for his mission. The craft, launched in 2018, is expected to complete a total of 24 orbits.
“No man-made object has ever been this close to a star, so Parker will truly send back data from unexplored territory,” said Nick Pinkine, Parker Solar Probe mission operations manager at the laboratory. in applied physics from Johns Hopkins, in a press release. The NASA blog. “We are excited to hear from the spacecraft when it returns around the Sun.”
The Parker Solar Probe will be traveling at about 430,000 miles per hour during its closest ever pass. He will ping the team to confirm her health on December 27, when they are far enough from the sun to resume communications.
