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On October 29, Parker's solar probe reached 42.6 million kilometers from the Sun, the closest to any man-made object to the solar system's engine. A few days later, on November 6, the aircraft approached closest to the Sun, reaching a point in its current orbit called perihelion. The spacecraft was traveling at a speed of 343,000 kilometers per hour, breaking the record for the fastest spacecraft. The previous record was held by the Juno probe on its last dive to Jupiter, 266,000 kilometers an hour.
The spaceship is just beginning. On a series of orbits, it will become faster and faster, diving deeper into the crown of each circuit. At its first approach, the probe was 24 million kilometers from the Sun. Due to the Sun's intensive radio emissions, the satellite is expected to remain out of contact with the Earth for a few days. The autonomous systems on board are supposed to allow the probe to remain operational for the duration of its absence of contact with the house.
The mysteries of the crown
The probe is on a mission to unravel the mysteries of the solar corona. This is the part of the sun that is still visible during a solar eclipse. The high energy particles of the corona are so hot that temperatures are higher than even the sun's surface. The probe will be exposed to temperatures above one million degrees Celsius. The protection of sensitive instruments on board is a heat shield 4.5 inches thick and 2.4 meters wide. The shield consists of a composite carbon foam sandwiched between two carbon plates. The side of the screen facing the sun is covered with a layer of white ceramic paint that reflects as much sun as possible. The instruments on board will remain at a relatively cool temperature of 30 degrees Celsius, thanks to the shield.
Some instruments peek around the shield, including antennas and a Faraday cup collecting particles. These are needed to make observations. The solar panels also peek behind the shield. Only a small part of the solar panels is exposed to the sun and they are cooled inside by water and a radiator. Sensors located along the panels ensure that the panels are not overexposed to the sun and automatically reorient the probe if the panels may be damaged.
The Solar Wind
Scientists know that the corona is much hotter than the Sun's surface, but they do not know exactly why. . One of the fundamental mysteries that Parker's solar probe hopes to solve is to understand exactly why the crown is getting so hot. The probe will also study the phenomenon of the solar wind – a flow of high energy particles that move to Neptune's orbit. These particles cause auroras on the Earth when they react with the atmosphere. The observations of the previous spacecraft revealed two types of solar wind: there is a slow current and a fast current.
Mariner 2 identified the source of the fast flow as relatively cooler regions on the Sun's surface, called coronal holes, not to be confused with sunspots. The source of the particles in the slow flow is not yet known. This is another mystery of the crown that Parker Solar Probe hopes to unlock.
Up to now, the problem of studying the solar wind is that most of the observations were taken from instruments installed on Earth or near the Earth. Parker's solar probe plunging several times into the crown itself will allow scientists to get closer and personally interested in the sun and better study it.
The Parker Solar Probe is NASA's first spacecraft to bear the name of a living person. Initially, the spacecraft called Solar Probe Plus but was renamed as a tribute to Parker. Parker developed a theory in 1958, which predicts the existence of the solar wind. According to the theory, there is so much heat in the crown that the high energy particles escape from the immense gravity of the Sun and move towards the solar system. This solar wind affects all planets in the solar system, which is why scientists want to understand it better. The solar probe Parker is the first mission of humanity to touch a star.
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