Icarus has nothing on NASA.
The space agency's Parker Solar Probe survived its latest attempt at a mission to “touch” the Sun, flying just 3.8 million miles above the surface of the star on Christmas Eve, its closest approach ever.
The spacecraft flew more than seven times closer to the sun than ever before, flying at 430,000 miles per hour through the sun's scorching atmosphere, “faster than any man-made object has ever traveled,” the agency said Friday. Announced.
After two days of silence, the agency received a beacon sound late Thursday confirming the spacecraft's safety. Parker withstood temperatures of up to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit during solar flights, relying on a carbon foam shield that can withstand scorching heat of up to 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit in the sun's corona.
“Flying this close to the sun is a historic moment in humanity's first mission to the stars,” said Nikki Fox, director of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
The breakthrough will allow the spacecraft to begin making “unparalleled” scientific measurements that could change our understanding of the sun, officials added, adding that Christmas Eve's success marks the start of a probe at record-breaking distances. He said it was the “first” of further successes.
“Studying the Sun up close allows us to better understand its impact on the entire solar system, including the technologies we use every day on Earth and in space,” Fox added. . Help us search for habitable worlds beyond our home planet. ”
