Sun is very making any spacecraft to impossible to touch its surface till yesterday. For the first time in history a spacecraft has touched the Sun. NASA’s Parker has not flown through the Sun’s upper atmosphere. This is a new milestone which will mark one major step for solar science. It will unleash critical information about our mother Sun and its influence on the solar system.
“Parker Solar Probe which touched the Sun is a monumental moment for solar science” said Thomas Zurbuchen, the associate administrator for Science Mission Directorate the associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. As it circles closer to the solar system, Parker will make new discoveries for the first time. It’s been three years after its launch Parker has arrived at the solar surface.
During the flyby, Parker Solar Probe passed into and out of the gaseous envelope of the Sun several times. At one point Parker Solar Probe dipped beneath 15 solar radii which is around 6.5 million miles from Sun’s surface. Even before trips through corona some surprising physics was already surfacing. Parker will reveal more clues about switchbacks and other solar phenomena. The data to come will allow scientists a glimpse into a region for superheating corona. With such measurements from the corona it will be critical for understanding and forecasting extreme space weather events that can disrupt telecommunications and damage satellites around Earth.
“Parker Solar Probe is part of NASA’s Living with a Star Program to explore aspects of the Sun- Earth that directly affect life and society. The program is managed by agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. It is a new moment in history and it’s a milestone. With this voyage in the Sun it will create more opportunities in History.