NASA's Parker Solar Probe has once again made history, completing its closest-ever approach to the sun on December 24, 2024.
Hurtling through the solar corona at an astonishing 430,000 miles per hour and enduring temperatures nearing 1,800°F, the spacecraft ventured just 3.8 million miles from the solar surface.
After a tense period without contact, mission controllers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) received a reassuring beacon tone late on December 26, confirming Parker's health and operational status.
As scientists await detailed data from the flyby, set to arrive on January 1, 2025, the probe's survival marks a critical milestone in science's quest to unravel the mysteries of our closest star.
Newsweek contacted NASA and Johns Hopkins APL via email for further comment.
Parker Solar Probe has phoned home!
After passing just 3.8 million miles from the solar surface on Dec. 24 — the closest solar flyby in history — we have received Parker Solar Probe's beacon tone confirming the spacecraft is safe. https://t.co/zbWT7iDVtP
What is the Parker Solar Probe?
NASA's Parker Solar Probe is a groundbreaking mission to dive into the sun's atmosphere, enduring extreme heat and radiation to give humanity its first-ever close-up sampling of a star's outer layers.
Launched in 2018, the spacecraft is equipped with cutting-edge thermal engineering and instruments to study the sun's magnetic fields, plasma, energetic particles and the solar wind.
The probe is named after the late Eugene N. Parker, a pioneer in solar physics who predicted the existence of the solar wind.
Designed to orbit the sun in highly elliptical loops, Parker uses Venus's gravity to accelerate and adjust its path for close encounters with the solar corona.
Why This Matters
The Parker Solar Probe's discoveries have already transformed our understanding of the sun and its influence on Earth.
By answering long-standing questions—such as why the corona is hotter than the sun's surface and how solar wind accelerates—it provides critical data for forecasting space weather.
These insights protect satellites, power grids and astronauts from solar radiation.
"This is a monumental and audacious achievement," Helene Winters, Parker Solar Probe's project manager from Johns Hopkins APL, said in a statement.
"Parker Solar Probe is changing the field of heliophysics. After years of braving the heat and dust of the inner solar system, taking blasts of solar energy and radiation that no spacecraft has ever seen, Parker Solar Probe continues to thrive."
What Did the Parker Solar Probe Achieve?
On December 24, 2024, Parker completed its closest-ever approach to the sun, passing just 3.8 million miles from its surface at a record-breaking speed of 430,000 miles per hour.
For context, if the distance between Earth and the sun was equivalent to the length of a football field, this closest approach would be around 4 yards from the end zone.
This latest flyby marks the spacecraft's 23rd close flyby and brings it deeper into the corona than ever before. When data is returned, it will provide unprecedented details of the sun's behavior during its 11-year solar maximum.
NASA confirmed the probe's health on December 27, 2024, when a beacon tone signaled its successful navigation through the sun's outer atmosphere.
The mission team anticipates receiving detailed telemetry data on January 1, 2025, which will include observations about the solar wind, corona heating and the origins of high-energy solar particles.
Previous mission highlights include: sampling particles and magnetic fields in the sun's atmosphere, becoming the first spacecraft to "touch the sun" in 2021; capturing images of Venus' surface in visible wavelengths and studying its atmosphere; observing dust thinning near the sun, confirming a theorized dust-free zone; and detecting magnetic reconnection events in the corona, linked to solar wind acceleration and corona heating.
What Happens Next?
Parker Solar Probe's journey isn't over just yet.
It will continue its highly elliptical orbit, making two more close passes of the sun in March and June 2025.
After completing its primary mission in June 2025, the probe will remain in orbit to conduct additional observations until its onboard fuel runs out.
Without corrective thrusts, the solar wind will gradually push the spacecraft out of alignment with Earth, ending its ability to transmit data.
When its mission concludes, most of the probe will incinerate, leaving only its carbon heat shield to orbit the sun for potentially billions of years, until the very end of the solar system itself.
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