NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Breaks Speed Records, Continues to Gather Unprecedented Data
Over the past few years, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has been consistently setting new speed records as it approaches the sun. In the coming year, it is poised to break even more records. This well-equipped spacecraft is gradually getting closer to the sun with each pass, resulting in a significant increase in its speed. In 2018, not long after its launch, the probe became the fastest man-made object ever created, and by 2024, it is expected to reach an astonishing speed of 430,000 miles per hour. To put this in perspective, one could travel from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., in just 20 seconds at this speed. The spacecraft most recently achieved a speed of 394,736 mph.
“It’s very fast,” said Nour Raouafi, an astrophysicist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and the project scientist for this mission, when speaking to Mashable about the probe’s remarkable speed. The spacecraft, equipped with a robust heat shield, has been making passes through the sun’s outer atmosphere, also known as the corona. This mission is the first of its kind to reach the corona, and the unprecedented data it collects will be invaluable in helping scientists forecast the impact of solar eruptions on Earth and provide answers to questions about the solar wind, which is the constant stream of particles and radiation emitted by the sun.
“It’s like opening a new book that we’ve never read before,” Raouafi expressed, highlighting the excitement of the scientific community about the discoveries to be made from the Parker Solar Probe’s data.
Breaking Down the Superfast Speed of the Solar Probe
The reason behind the Parker Solar Probe’s exceptional speed lies in its orbit around the sun—a massive sphere of hot gas that is 333,000 times the mass of our planet. To provide some perspective, the sun could accommodate 1.3 million Earths within its bounds. Essential to note is that when a spacecraft passes by such a massive and gravitationally powerful object, it gains significant momentum and velocity.
The Parker Solar Probe is currently on its 17th orbit around the sun, which has allowed it to increase its speed by over 240,000 mph since 2018. Once in space, there is no resistance to halt this motion. “Once it’s going, it’s going,” Raouafi explained. Additionally, the probe strategically employs Venus for “gravity assists,” propelling it closer to the sun. While these flybys of Venus slightly slow down the craft, they ultimately result in a further increase in speed as it gets closer to the massive star. At its current pace, the spacecraft begins a new orbit every three months, providing its instruments with a wealth of information about the solar environment. “Every three months, we have a new load of data,” Raouafi marveled. “It will take years and years to study.”
Demystifying Solar Mysteries
Researchers studying space weather have several important questions they aim to answer. They seek to understand why the solar wind accelerates after leaving the sun, reaching speeds of up to 2 million mph. They are also fascinated by the vast temperature difference between the corona, which is approximately 2 million degrees Fahrenheit, and the sun’s surface, which measures 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Furthermore, they strive to comprehend the behavior of extreme space weather caused by various types of solar explosions and how these events impact Earth. One such dangerous solar eruption is known as a coronal mass ejection (CME). These occur when the sun expels a large amount of super-hot gas, or plasma.
“It’s like scooping up a piece of the sun and ejecting it into space,” explained Mark Miesch, a space weather scientist at NOAA, during an earlier interview with Mashable. CMEs can have devastating effects on power grids and communication networks. In 1989, a powerful CME caused a major blackout in Québec, Canada, leaving millions without power. It is essential to note that a CME has to travel over 92 million miles from the sun to reach Earth. Along its journey, this hot gas will “pile up” the solar wind ahead of it, affecting its arrival time to Earth. Understanding these dynamics is crucial, as a proper space weather forecast could allow power utilities to temporarily shut off power to avoid power surges caused by CMEs that could potentially lead to blackouts affecting millions of people.
The researchers working on the Parker Solar Probe project believe that the spacecraft, equipped with instruments to measure and capture images of the solar wind, will significantly improve our ability to predict when and where a powerful CME may strike. By studying the solar wind ahead of a CME, scientists can gather valuable information that will enhance predictions. Despite enduring extreme heat and radiation on the edge of the corona, the spacecraft remains in excellent condition. This is primarily due to its 4.5-inch-thick carbon heat shield, which is consistently faced toward the sun. Although the shield heats up to temperatures of around 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit, the area just a few feet behind the shield maintains a surprisingly pleasant temperature. “Most of the instruments are working at room temperatures,” Raouafi shared.
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