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NASA's Parker solar probe has taken another step forward in its innovative mission to "touch" the sun.
After breaking two world records last week – for faster speed and a closer approach to the sun – the intrepid spacecraft has finally reached its first perihelion, making a spectacular pbad close to the sun, the newspaper reports. Space.
According to NASA, the historic maneuver took place on the night of November 5 at 22:28. EST and brought the solar probe to 15 million miles from the sun's surface.
"In the face of heat and brutal radiation, our Parker Solar Probe satellite has made its first approach to the sun," the space agency tweeted on Monday.
During this first close encounter with our star, the probe reached a maximum speed of 213,200 miles to the sun compared to the sun, thus beating its own record of October 29th. At that time, Parker's solar probe was heading toward the sun at 153,454 miles per hour and had just slid within 26.55 million miles of the star's surface, as reported by the Inquisitr.
Monday's close encounter with the sun is the first in a series of 24 tight orbits around our star. The last perihelion of the mission is scheduled for 2025. The solar probe Parker will be covered by 3.8 million kilometers of the sun's surface, the probe moving at incredible speeds of up to 430,000 kilometers per hour .
HOT OFF PRESSES! ???? ???? ???? In the face of heat and brutal radiation, our #ParkerSolarProbe The spacecraft made its first approach to the Sun when it arrived 15 million miles from the surface at 22:28 ET. Read about our mission to "touch" the sun: https://t.co/mJ6Zwwgv9A pic.twitter.com/uGkeUeJMhY
– NASA (@NASA) November 6, 2018
This last step comes less than three months after the launch of Parker's solar probe during his seven-year trip to the sun. As Space points out, the spaceship was flying solo throughout the maneuver. The probe lost contact with mission control because of the enormous amounts of radio waves produced by the sun drowning the spacecraft signals.
"For several days around the perihelion of November 5, Parker Solar Probe will be completely out of touch with the Earth because of interference from the Sun's radio broadcasts," NASA said in an update of its mission.
Although the spacecraft was unable to communicate with the Earth, it had no trouble operating its advanced thermal shield on its own, bowing continually to ensure that all of its instruments remained intact. shadow of the heat shield. This allowed the probe to brave the burning temperatures of the solar material above which it was flying, up to 3.6 million degrees Fahrenheit, the space agency notes.
"Parker Solar Probe uses a multitude of autonomous systems to ensure the safety of the spacecraft without being guided by the Earth," said NASA officials. "This autonomy is essential not only during the non-contact phases around the 24 days planned, but also throughout the mission, when the propagation time of light round-trip is the time required for radio signals to commute between Earth and Parker Solar Probe – can last up to 31 minutes. "
https://t.co/kZ1kSMk69B: NASA's Parker solar probe has just made its first pbad close to the sun! .https: //t.co/9Ahxuh6FVi
– rblumel (@rblumel) November 7, 2018
Since the Parker solar probe remained secret throughout the perihelion, the spacecraft had to take independent measurements of its first approach to the sun. The mission team expects to receive the first batch of data from Monday's close encounter with the sun in early December.
Once the solar probe has found its communication with the Earth, it will communicate with the mission control of Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. The spacecraft is programmed to signal its status via a repertoire of four "beeps" and beeps to inform us of its status.
The next two close meetings with the sun are scheduled for 2019 and will take place in April and September. In December 2019, the Parker solar probe will conduct its second flyby of Venus in order to adjust its trajectory by means of a gravity badisted maneuver and to steer its trajectory a little closer to the Sun.
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