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The Parker solar probe has a devilish week. Only yesterday, NASA announced that its highly versatile star-study machine had become closer to the Sun than any previous spacecraft, and that the spacecraft broke a new record.
According to Guinness World Records, the probe is now the fastest synthetic object of all time. It reached a speed of 155,959 miles at the time, relative to the position of the sun. It may sound like an incredible feat, and I guess that's true, but it's only a hair faster than the previous Helios 2 spacecraft world record, which had reached a speed of 153,453 miles at the time in 1976.
The probe is currently heading towards the first of many passages of the Sun, each slowly narrowing its orbit thanks to the gravitational aids of Venus nearby. As it gets closer and closer, the spacecraft will continue to regularly break its own speed records and is expected to break the current record of distance and speed on November 5th, moving closer to the Sun and moving more than ever. at a speed of about 213,200 miles per hour.
It's a speed that propels the Helios 2 probe out of the water, but the Parker probe is just beginning. Whenever it passes, it will progressively move towards its expected maximum peak speed (get ready) 430,000 miles at the time. However, this date is very far away and it will not reach this incredible stage until 2024.
As the probe razes more and more the Sun, she will study our star in ways never possible before. It will transmit readings of the Sun's atmosphere and scientists hope that it will help them understand all the peculiarities that make the stars ring. Expect many new discoveries from NASA's new probe.
Image Source: NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center
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