NASA's Parker Solar probe "touched the sun" in unprecedented feat

A NASA continues to make strides to learn more about space, and recently announced that its probe Parker Solar arrived in the solar atmosphere for the first time in history. As it's the closest we've ever come to this star, the space agency is announcing that we've "touched" the Sol.

Launched 3 years ago, the model will help us not only discover possible life outside the Planet Earth, but provide information that will be useful in future missions. Understand the advances and what the next steps are right now.

NASA probe launched in 2018

Developed especially so that we can learn more about the Sol and how the other stars work, the NASA put your probe Parker Solar into orbit for the first time in 2018, but it was not until 2021 that the equipment reached the solar atmosphere. This fact happened on April 28 this year, but confirmation only took place on December 14.

A NASA had the purpose of sending a space probe so close to the Sol since 1958, but advances in thermal engineering allowed the launch only now. The big challenge was precisely to develop a model that was resistant enough to get as close as possible to the Sol. For knowledge, it is known that the corona (one of the regions of the star that warms the Earth) has a temperature of 16.111º C.

The catheter Parker Solar It has a carbon composite shield that is 11,43 cm thick, enough for the space probe of the NASA get extremely close to the Sol. After all, the launch was not meant to display all the studies, but rather to give us more information about this region of space.

What is the purpose of this mission?

In addition to being a means of finding out more about the Sol and how other similar stars act, the NASA hopes to have more information about the solar wind. The space agency EUA still knows very little about the solar wind and how it can affect future projects. So with the probe Parker Solar having contact with this, it will be possible to avoid problems in missions with humans.

This action will also provide insights into solar flares and how particles that are accelerated can be dangerous for astronauts and technology in space. Another factor that NASA want to know more is about space weather, which affects both humans and space-launched satellites. Finally, upon entering the solar atmosphere, which bears the name of Corona, it is possible to have more data for understanding the temperature of this region, which is hundreds of times hotter than the Sun's own surface.

NASA inside the solar atmosphere

The solar atmosphere is known as a place of extremely high temperatures, impractical for human survival. In this region, one of the recorded temperatures is 1.377 ° C, but there are data that other parts can reach up to 1 million degrees Celsius. The coldest part of the solar atmosphere has a temperature of 5.727 °C.

Using the gravity of Venus to make its orbit around the Sun, the probe Parker Solar managed to overcome the region that is called Alfven critical surface. as the Sol does not have a solid surface, this part has low gravity and very weak magnetic fields, which allowed the space probe to enter the NASA in the solar atmosphere. It is one of the stages before actually entering this region.

Now that you've made your first entry into the Corona, the space agency of EUA knows that soon the probe will be making more entries, with more photos that can be captured. Other information is being captured so that, in general, we can know more about the stars that are in the Universe. O Sol it's the closest star we can get, so any and all advancements are to be commended.

Closer to the sun than ever

The space probe was responsible for an unprecedented feat, since before that, no other project developed by humans had reached this far into the solar atmosphere. The official website of NASA mentions that the Parker Solar reached the region with solar wind. The solar wind moves so fast that not even waves can travel far enough to get back to the star.

Scientists still did not have an exact location of where the Alfven critical surface was, but with the visit of the probe Parker Solarto this region, it was possible to estimate that it is between 10 and 20 solar radii from the surface of the Sun — between 6,9 and 13 million kilometers.

As the space probe continues its trajectory to get as close as possible to the star that heats the Planet Earth, it is assumed that when it reached the solar atmosphere, the probe Parker Solar was below 20 solar rays, more or less, 91% of the distance from the EARTH ao Sol. These are just estimates, but the data can be considered assertive.

Parker Solar probe will carry out more trips

A NASA points out that its solar probe, which is close to the Sol returns to the Planet Earth only in 2025, and in the meantime, the probe is expected to Parker Solar keep trying to re-enter the atmosphere so that more information is captured. Despite not having touched the Sol in fact, the simple advance that took place in April of this year is the furthest we've ever managed to get.

It is not yet known how life outside the Planet Earth can be studied (and later confirmed) with these data, but it will be possible to know more information about the Sol to then carry out a comparison with similar stars. Do you believe it will be possible to get even closer to the Sun? Tell us your opinion Comment!

See also other features

Check all the information about the telescope James Webb, which will be released on the 25th and will act as a complement to the Hubble.

Sources: NASA, The Noxt Web and Interesting Engineering