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The NASA solar mission, which broke records, silently completed another close pass of the sun yesterday (April 4).
The maneuver, called perihelion, allowed a closer approach at 18:40. HAE (22H40 GMT) yesterday, when the Parker solar probe was about 15 million miles (24 million kilometers) from the sun's surface. It's about the same distance as the spaceship reached on November 5, 2018, during his first perihelion.
The two nearby pastures broke the previous record, defined by the mission Helios 2 in 1976, because a spacecraft as close as possible to the sun. But the Parker probe will continue to break records during the mission, barely exceeding 4 million miles (6 million km) above the star's surface.
Related: NASA's Parker Solar Probe is heading for the sun. So, what's next?
A similar process takes place with the probe speed: At the height of its first two perihelias, the spacecraft has broken records of about 343,000 km / h (213,200 mph), also breaking records, but the next approaches closer will see the Parker solar probe advance even faster.
These tight pastures are a worrying time for mission scientists and engineers because the spacecraft is out of communication with the Earth for several days before and after each perihelion. The radio silence is designed to allow the probe to focus on keeping its instruments safe behind the thick shield which protects them from the incredible heat of the sun's outer atmosphere, the crown.
Once the gear is removed from the sun on its orbit, the data collected during the maneuver are returned to scientists in the expectation of this information. The researchers hope to use this data to better understand the crowned, where temperatures reach millions of degrees in degrees Fahrenheit and Celsius.
The crown is also the source of the solar wind, a steady stream of charged particles that flow from the sun and the solar system. As the solar wind can interfere with communication and navigation satellites orbiting the Earth, scientists hope to use the data from the Parker solar probe to better understand how the solar wind works at its source.
The probe will perform another perihelion on 1 September and will then use The gravity of Venus adjust its trajectory. Orbital modification means that the subsequent closer approaches to the probe are closer to the surface of the sun. In total, the spacecraft will complete 24 journeys during its seven-year mission, getting closer and closer to the sun and its secrets.
Email Meghan Bartels to [email protected] or follow her @meghanbartels. follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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