NASA says Parker solar probe is "alive" after sun contact

Parker Solar Probe, NASA's historic mission to solve the mysteries of the sun, is alive and well after flying over the sun just 15 million kilometers from its surface.

It is much closer to all the spacecraft – the previous record was set by Helios B in 1976 and defeated by Parker on October 29 – and this maneuver exposed the spacecraft to intense heat and solar radiation in a complex environment of solar winds, NASA said in a statement Thursday.

On November 5, the spacecraft made the closest approach, called perihelion. The Parker solar sensor reached a top speed of 213,200 miles at the time, setting a new speed record for spacecraft.

At this distance, the intense sunlight heated the thermal shield of the sun-exposed probe, called the thermal protection system, to about 820 degrees Fahrenheit.

The temperature will rise to 2500 Fahrenheit as the spacecraft approaches the Sun, NASA said.

"Parker Solar Probe was designed to take care of itself and its valuable payload during this close-up approach, without any control from us on Earth – and now we know that it has been successful," said Thomas Zurbuchen, Administrator Associate of NASA Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

On November 7, the mission controllers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory received the probe status tag at 4:46 pm (EST).

The tag indicated status "A" – the best of four possible status signals, which means that Parker Solar Probe works well with all instruments operating and collecting scientific data. If there were minor problems, they were solved autonomously by the spacecraft.

"Parker is the culmination of six decades of scientific advancements.We have just realized the first visit of humanity to our star, which will have implications not only on Earth, but also for a deeper understanding of our universe, "added Zurbuchen.

The first solar meeting phase of Parker Solar Probe began on October 31 and the satellite will continue to collect scientific data until the end of the solar encounter phase on November 11. Several weeks after the end of the solar encounter phase, the scientific data will begin. downlinking to the Earth.

The probe will repeatedly beat its own speed record as its orbit approaches the star and as it moves faster and faster to perihelion, NASA said.

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