A NASA probe made history Christmas Eve after becoming the closest human-made object to the sun, a feat scientists say was as historic as the Apollo moon landing.
The Parker Solar Probe zoomed within just 3.8 million miles of the sun’s surface at 6:53am ET.
Moving at speeds of up to 430,000mph and enduring temperature of up to 1,800F, the car-sized probe ‘touched’ the sun to help scientists better understand the star.
During that brief flyby, the it passed through the sun’s super-hot outer atmosphere called the corona – the origin of solar storms which have the potential to cause chaos on Earth.
Although the Parker probe endured boiling temperatures, its near-indestructible heat shield should allow it to survive the extreme conditions.
However, mission scientists will have to wait until Friday for confirmation as they lose contact with the craft for several days due to its proximity to the sun.
Thomas Zurbuchen, former head of science for NASA, said: ‘NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has accomplished a feat that is as historic and significant as the moon landing.’
Nick Pinkine, Parker Solar Probe mission operations manager at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), said: ‘No human-made object has ever passed this close to a star, so Parker will truly be returning data from uncharted territory.’
The Christmas Eve flyby is the first of three record-setting close passes, with the next two – on March 22, 2025, and June 19, 2025 – both expected to bring the probe back to a similarly close distance from the sun.
The Parker Solar Probe launched from Cape Canaveral in August 2018 before embarking on the 93 million-mile journey to the sun.
The goal was to gather more data about the sun’s corona by flying as close as possible through the stellar atmosphere.
Because the gravitation pull is so strong at this distance, the probe needs to be moving incredibly fast to avoid slipping into the heart of the sun.
To do this, the probe has been repeatedly ‘slingshot’ around the sun and Venus, getting progressively faster with each pass.
In 2021, Parker made its first successful pass of the solar corona, dipping into a region where temperatures can reach over one million degrees Centigrade for up to five hours.
Since then, Parker has completed 21 solar slingshots, but tomorrow the probe will smash its own record for both speed and distance.
After completing its seventh loop around Venus in November, Parker used that ‘gravity assist’ to fly seven times closer to the star than any other spacecraft.
Parker surpassed its previous speed record of 395,000 mph, according to NASA.
At its top speed, the probe moved 300 times faster than a Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter jet or 200 times faster than a rifle bullet.
Arik Posner, Parker Solar Probe program scientist for NASA, says: ‘This is one example of NASA’s bold missions, doing something that no one else has ever done before to answer longstanding questions about our universe.’
In order to avoid melting during that time, the Parker Solar Probe was designed to withstand unbelievably high temperatures.
The body of the probe itself is protected by an eight-foot-wide heat shield made of a type of carbon foam.
Although this shield is just 4.5 inches thick, its material composition makes it almost indestructible.
Johns Hopkins APL explained in a mission briefing: ‘One yard behind that, where the body of the spacecraft resides, it is almost room temperature.
‘And all its systems will need to work perfectly for Parker to gather data from this dynamic environment near a star where no spacecraft has dared travel.’
Meanwhile, the Solar Probe Cup is made of Titanium-Zirconium-Molybdenum, a metal alloy with a melting point of 4,260 °F.
However, the probe’s mission was about more than moving fast and withstanding high temperatures.
The data it brings back could make a huge difference in humanity’s defenses against devastating solar flares.
Thanks to the intense temperatures and powerful magnetic fields, scientists haven’t been able to look inside the sun’s corona.
However, this region is the origin of the plasma and magnetic fields which trigger solar flares and coronal mass ejections.
As the sun enters its solar maximum this year, scientists have warned that Earth is long overdue for an impact from a superflare which could cause widespread blackouts and damage to satellite networks.
By gathering data from this region, NASA says the Parker Solar Probe will help scientists make better predictions about space weather.
That could buy Earth valuable time to protect our most vulnerable systems in the event of a dangerous solar flare.
Mr Posner says: ‘We can’t wait to receive that first status update from the spacecraft and start receiving the science data in the coming weeks.’
Parker will transmit a beacon on Friday, December 27 to confirm it has survived the flyby with more data soon to follow.
The probe is then expected to make four more close flybys in 2025, but none so close as tomorrow.
And while the craft will eventually be torn apart by the sun’s gravity, the heat shield could continue to orbit for thousands of years to come.
