Parker Solar Probe to Embark on Historic Sun-Diving Mission, NASA Reports

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is gearing up for its eagerly awaited record-breaking approach to the sun’s surface.

Traveling around the sun at about 430,000 mph, the uncrewed vessel is anticipated on Christmas Eve to come within 3.8 million miles of the star. If successful, this maneuver will bring the probe seven times nearer to the blazing sun’s surface than any prior spacecraft, NASA stated in a news announcement.

This signifies a groundbreaking achievement that NASA has been working towards since the Parker Solar Probe launched in 2018 on a quest to explore the sun’s outer environment. While the spacecraft is scheduled to execute two additional flybys of the sun in 2025, its pass on Tuesday will be the closest of all its 24 planned orbits.

“No human-made object has ever come this close to a star,” remarked Nick Pinkine, Parker Solar Probe mission operations manager, in a statement. “Parker will genuinely be sending back data from unexplored regions.”

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Parker Solar Probe to execute nearest approach to sun

Parker sent a signal last week informing mission operations that the spacecraft is performing as anticipated and is ready for its significant approach.

This orbit is projected to occur around 7 a.m. EST Tuesday as the probe zooms at speeds sufficient to cover the distance from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., in just one second, according to NASA.

At that moment, mission operators at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland will temporarily lose contact with the spacecraft. Parker will send out another signal on Friday to verify its status after the close flyby, NASA explained.

“This exemplifies one of NASA’s daring missions, undertaking something that no one else has accomplished before to resolve enduring inquiries about our cosmos,” stated Arik Posner, Parker Solar Probe program scientist at NASA’s Washington headquarters. “We eagerly await the first status update from the spacecraft and to start collecting the scientific data in the forthcoming weeks.”

What is the Parker Solar Probe?

The Parker Solar Probe was launched on Aug. 12, 2018 with the goal of coming within 4 million miles of the sun’s surface to examine the development of the solar wind.

The spacecraft has been engineered to withstand temperatures reaching as high as 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit while maneuvering through the sun’s elusive outer envelope, referred to as the corona. Standing nearly 10 feet tall and powered by two solar panels, the craft and its instruments are shielded from the sun’s intense heat by a 4.5-inch-thick carbon-composite barrier.

Over the span of 24 solar orbits, each lasting 88 days, Parker is delivering information that could aid researchers in predicting space-weather occurrences that impact Earth.

The mission arrives at a pivotal moment as the sun has reached the peak of its 11-year cycle, known as solar maximum. During this phase, the sun can release severe space weather, which, while advantageous for aurora enthusiasts eager to catch a glimpse of the northern lights, can also interfere with various Earth technologies.

Parker’s last two close encounters are scheduled for March 22 and June 19, 2025.

The vessel is named in honor of Dr. Eugene Parker, who in the 1950s introduced several theories about how stars, including the sun, emit energy. Parker, the first living individual to have a spacecraft named after him, passed away at 94 years old in March 2022, according to NASA.

Parker Solar Probe achieves significant milestones

Within two months of its launch, the Parker Solar Probe in October 2018 approached within 26.55 million miles of the sun’s surface, setting a new record previously held by the Helios-2 spacecraft in 1976.

In 2021, the probe continued this trend by becoming the first spacecraft to traverse the corona, collecting samples of particles and magnetic fields present there.

On Sept. 27, 2023, the probe achieved two records: it made the closest passage of any vehicle to the sun, coming within 4.5 million miles; and reached the highest speed of any spacecraft relative to the sun, traveling at 394,736 miles per hour, as reported by NASA.

Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com