Parker Solar Probe: Humanity’s Closest Encounter with the Sun

Controllers have confirmed NASA’s mission to “touch” the Sun survived its record-breaking closest approach to the solar surface on Dec. 24, 2024.

Breaking its previous record by flying just 3.8 million miles above the surface of the Sun, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe hurtled through the solar atmosphere at a blazing 430,000 miles per hour — faster than any human-made object has ever moved. A beacon tone received in the late evening hours of Dec. 26 confirmed the spacecraft had made it through the encounter safely and is operating normally.

This pass, the first of more to come at this distance, allows the spacecraft to conduct unrivaled scientific measurements with the potential to change our understanding of the Sun.

Read more: https://science.nasa.gov/science-rese...

Music credits: “Altitude” by Thomas Daniel Bellingham [PRS]; “Our Velocity Vibrant” by Jeremy Noel William Abbott [PRS]; “Omega Centauri” by Timothy James Cornick [PRS]; “Earthrise” by Alasdair Neil Parkinson [ASCA]; “The Big Revelation” by Richard James Neale [PRS], Jason Glover [PRS]; “Snuggling You” by Daniel Backes [GEMA], Peter Moslener [GEMA] from Universal Production Music.

Video Credit: NASA
Editors: Joy Ng (eMITS), Beth Anthony (eMITS)
Lead Heat Shield Engineer: Betsy Congdon (Johns Hopkins APL)
Associate Administrator: Nicola Fox (NASA)
Mission Designer: Yanping Guo (Johns Hopkins APL)
Heliophysicist: Kelly Korreck (NASA)
Lead Producer: Joy Ng (eMITS)
Project Scientist: Nour Rawafi (Johns Hopkins APL)
Heliophysics Division Director: Joseph Westlake (NASA)
Mission Systems Engineer: John Wirzburger (Johns Hopkins APL)
Videographers: Lacey Young, Beth Anthony, Joy Ng (eMITS)

This video can be freely shared and downloaded at https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14741 While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, the music and some individual imagery may have been obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. Specific details on such imagery may be found here: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14741

For more information on NASA’s media guidelines, visit https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-brand-cente...

0:01
In 1958 scientists put a vision that
0:05
we need to fly a spacecraft within the atmosphere of the Sun,
0:08
but it is so challenging, extremely difficult to realize,
0:12
that it took us six decades to build a system that can fly safely
0:16
and reliably within the atmosphere of a star.
0:19
Three. Two. One. Zero.
0:23
Liftoff of the mighty Delta Four Heavy
0:26
rocket with NASA's Parker Solar Probe.
0:29
A daring mission to shed light on the mysteries of our closest star,
0:33
the Sun.
0:44
[Chatter and ambient sounds]
0:48
It looked like we had a hit there for a second.
0:52
Yes, Nick.
0:53
I believe we do have detection of beacon tone one.
0:57
[Applause]
1:02
There it is.
1:03
See it?
1:04
There it is.
1:05
[Applause]
1:09
Parker Solar Probe is 3.8
1:10
3.8
1:12
3.8
1:12
million miles from the surface of the Sun.
1:14
It is so incredible to just realize
1:17
this is the moment that we designed this mission for.
1:21
3.8 million miles may not sound that close,
1:24
but if I put the Sun and the Earth one meter apart,
1:28
Parker Solar Probe would be four centimeters from the Sun.
1:31
It's the closest human made object to a star
1:35
and also the fastest traveling at 430,000 miles an hour.
1:41
I mean, we're flying through the atmosphere of a star.
1:44
That's not easy to do.
1:46
It's something we've never done before.
1:49
This is our first close encounter with a star
1:52
and it’s really just amazing.
1:54
This area that Parker’s going into
1:56
is just so crucial to our understanding of the Sun
1:59
and its impact on the Earth.
2:00
That solar interaction, that space weather,
2:03
those billions of tons of material that the Sun can throw at us,
2:06
interacts with our power grids, can interact with our technology,
2:09
so it's really important to understand them at their source
2:12
and how they get all that energy.
2:14
When we were thinking about designing a spacecraft to go to someplace
2:17
that had never been before, and it's actually going there to study the Sun,
2:22
and so you're kind of saying, what am I designing?
2:25
What are the environments we’re designing for?
2:27
It has to go from the deepest, coldest, space to a very warm area
2:32
and keep everything working at a little bit above room temperature.
2:36
It's designed to go to such an extreme environment.
2:39
You look at it and it doesn't quite look like most other spacecraft.
2:43
The whole thing is designed
2:44
such that the heat shield is taking most of the brunt of the heat of the Sun.
2:48
The heat shield will be at about 1800 degrees Fahrenheit
2:53
and it's protecting the spacecraft.
2:55
So the spacecraft's actually basically at room temperature.
2:57
This is such a great feat of engineering
3:00
and it really shows how capable we are in space.
3:04
This is something that
3:05
we've been wanting to do since 1958 when it was first mentioned,
3:10
and the technical problems that had to be overcome in order to achieve it —
3:14
it's just monumental to be able to get a spacecraft
3:17
this close to the Sun.
3:18
To get close to the Sun
3:22
is not easy.
3:24
It looks like from Earth to the Sun is not that far,
3:28
uh, the key issue is energy.
3:30
In order for Parker to get close to the Sun,
3:34
we needed to lose lots of Parker’s speed
3:37
possessed at earth’s orbit.
3:39
Fortunately, I was able to create a
3:43
trajectory with seven Venus flyby.
3:47
The mission uses Venus
3:49
in order to actually change its angular momentum
3:51
and slow down to actually go closer and closer to the Sun.
3:55
Over the course of about six years and seven flybys,
3:59
we were able to move closer to the Sun, and each time unraveling a little bit
4:03
more of the mysteries of the Sun as we get data from places
4:06
that no spacecraft has ever been before.
4:09
It's the only star in our galaxy that we can actually go visit,
4:14
and that's what makes it so magical.
4:15
By flying within the atmosphere of a star,
4:18
we are basically tracing the fingerprints
4:22
of the physical mechanisms of the Sun.
4:24
We now view the Sun in a different way.
4:27
When you look at images from Parker Solar Probe
4:32
they are extremely, extremely complex.
4:34
And that complexity for us, it’s a new science
4:38
that we need to investigate. We need to understand.
4:41
The things that we’ve learned over the years that Parker’s been in orbit
4:45
have been amazing. They’ve challenged our ideas about
4:48
how the solar wind is made,
4:50
about how the Sun works,
4:51
about some of these fundamental things that are going on.
4:57
There's a lot of pride and excitement
4:59
for this closest approach.
5:01
So much effort
5:03
and so many people have worked on this.
5:05
I think it really took the teamwork and synergy of engineers and scientists
5:10
and administrators and, and a lot of different people to think this mission up.
5:15
It makes you think
5:17
that you can basically overcome any hurdles,
5:20
so dream big and go out there and make them happen.