Posted on 12/27/2024 9:06:01 AM PST by Red Badger
The Parker Solar Probe is safe and functioning normally after completing the closest-ever pass of the Sun by any human-made object, Nasa has announced.
VIDEO AT LINK............
The daring spacecraft flew just 3.8million miles (6.1mkm) from the Sun's surface on 24 December.
That might sound like a lot, but it's a stone's throw given that the Sun is 91.4 million miles from Earth.
Nasa launched Parker back in 2018 to examine our local star, in hopes it would reveal more about solar activity.
The nail-biting mission took the Parker probe out of communications range with experts on Earth.
The operations team at the Johns Hopkins University applied physics laboratory in Maryland received the signal from the probe shortly before midnight on Thursday.
The signal, a "beacon tone", confirmed the probe survived the trip.
Nasa launched Parker back in 2018 to examine our local star, in hopes it would reveal more about solar activity.
The nail-biting mission took the Parker probe out of communications range with experts on Earth.
The operations team at the Johns Hopkins University applied physics laboratory in Maryland received the signal from the probe shortly before midnight on Thursday.
The signal, a "beacon tone", confirmed the probe survived the trip.
In a statement, Nasa said: “This closeup study of the sun allows Parker solar probe to take measurements that help scientists better understand how material in this region gets heated to millions of degrees, trace the origin of the solar wind (a continuous flow of material escaping the sun), and discover how energetic particles are accelerated to near light speed.”
The space agency agency said it should receive data from the probe on 1 January - after being sent across tens of millions of miles of space.
The seven-year mission is scheduled to end around September 2025.
The distance is seven times closer to the Sun than any other spacecraft has ventured to date.
While moving at up to 430,000mph (692,000k/ph), Parker endured temperatures of up to 982C (1,800F) as it dipped into the Sun's outer atmosphere.
The probe is kept safe by the Thermal Protection System, an 8ft heat shield that weighs around 160lbs.
Parker Probe Ping!.................
It’s still ticking.
Next stop the Planet Uranus.
The Sun sun exclusive reporting!
Live from the Sun!...............
Johnny on the spot, you!
Close up pictures of the sun or it didn’t happen... :)
How apropos 😉
You must be from Missouri
How is an inanimate object “daring”?
Sorry, they went by at night.................
“You must be from Missouri.”
No, I just do not trust government. They are thieves. They would invent this whole “expedition” just to steal money and use it somewhere else. Beginning to end the whole mission might be fiction.
There is absolutely no reason they cannot take a few image shots of the Sun while it is there. They have been doing it with probes for decades. Why would they purposely miss such a great opportunity for images? If it is real they wouldn’t!
So if there are no images it never happened. Would they do this? You bet... I’ll believe it is not a scam when they show pictures that only the probe could have taken from a close flyby.
“Sorry, they went by at night.................”
Oh damn..... They couldn’t even time it right... lol
when it comes to the sun, what more information could they possibly get flying that close that they couldnt get at 10 miles away?? but i’m surprised nothing melted. I assumed the sun was hot enough to melt anything that came 1000 miles close to it...
It was made of extremely exotic metals that could withstand the temps.
That the electronics survived is quite an accomplishment..............
Stars... they only come out at night.
“Don’t be the rule be the exception!” ~ Kris Kringle, 1970
No signs of life on the surface have been reported but they haven’t checked the interior. And we’ve been worried about a secret Nazi moon base...
Yea, I really had to stretch for that one!
Openurmind, thanx for your lead in! Actually, it was almost to easy.
Thus Guy is perhaps more naturally amenable than you to the notion that the Parker Probe is legit and survived the close fly-by to the Sun (at 430,000 mph!).
Heat shield technology is incredibly impressive these days. Being on the “cool” side of (i.e., behind) a properly-designed and -constructed heat shield, you (if you are an intricate mechanical or electronic device onboard the main Parker Probe spacecraft) might not even guess at the scale of the pyrotechnics happening mere feet away.
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