Parker Solar Probe sends a “Still Alive” tone back to Earth

There is good news for Sun botherers: the Parker Solar Probe appears to have survived its close encounter with our nearest star.

The probe was just 3.8 million miles from the surface of the Sun as it whipped past at 430,000 miles per hour on December 24. The operations team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) received a tone from the spacecraft just before midnight (EST) on December 26 to indicate the vehicle was in good health and operating normally.

More detailed telemetry data on the spacecraft’s status is due to be sent back on Jan 1, along with precious observations that will help scientists better understand the origin of solar wind and how heating processes work in the region.

The flyby is the closest any human-made probe has passed the Sun. Or, as XKCD put it, “Congratulations to the Parker Solar Probe for setting a new record for ‘Worst Job Avoiding The Sun.'”

While the Parker Solar Probe has made the closest approach to the Sun, it is not the only spacecraft studying the star. The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Solar Orbiter, launched in February 2020, is designed to help scientists understand the heating of the atmosphere and the formation of solar wind. According to ESA, the closest approach made by the spacecraft is 42 million km.

According to ESA, “Solar Orbiter and Parker Solar Probe have each been designed and placed into a unique orbit to accomplish their different, if complementary, goals.”

“Parker Solar Probe ‘touches’ our star at much closer distances than Solar Orbiter, to study how the solar wind originates – but does not have cameras to view the Sun directly. Solar Orbiter flies at an ideal distance to achieve a comprehensive perspective of our star, including both remote images and in situ measurements, and will view the Sun’s polar regions for the first time.”

The approach marks the beginning of the end for Parker Solar Probe unless the mission is extended. According to the mission’s Timeline, two more passes of the Sun are set for 2025, although there could conceivably be more. ®