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DKYLB.comSunday (December 30, 2023) This will be an extraordinary moment in the history of space exploration.
One year from now, on December 24, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe will fly past the sun at a speed of 195 km/s, or 435,000 miles per hour.
No man-made object can move so fast, nor so close to our star, which is only 6.1 million kilometers or 3.8 million miles from the “surface” of the Sun.
“We are essentially about to land on a star,” said Parker project scientist Dr. Nour Raouafi.
Also read: Valkyrie, NASA’s humanoid robot that will replace the role of astronauts
“This will be a monumental achievement for all of humanity. “It’s the equivalent of landing on the moon in 1969,” a scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory told BBC News.
Parker’s speed would come from the enormous gravitational pull he felt as he plummeted toward the sun. This would be comparable to flying from New York to London in under 30 seconds.
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Image source, NSO/NSF/AURA image caption,
High-resolution views of the sun’s surface or photosphere. Parker will make the closest approach ever
The United States Space Agency (NASA) Parker Solar Probe is one of the most daring missions of all time
The goal of this mission, launched in 2018, is to repeatedly fly past the sun and get closer to it.
By the end of 2024, Parker will be within 4% of the Sun-Earth distance (149 million km).
The challenges Parker faces are enormous. At perihelion, the point in the probe’s orbit closest to the star, the temperature at the front of the probe reaches 1,400 °C.
Parker’s strategy was to enter quickly and exit quickly, taking measurements of the solar environment with a series of instruments deployed behind a thick heat shield.
The researchers hope the results will represent a breakthrough in understanding some of the Sun’s key processes.
One of them is a clearer explanation of how the corona, the sun’s outer atmosphere, works.
The challenges Parker faces are enormous. At perihelion, the point in the probe’s orbit closest to the star, the temperature at the front of the probe reaches 1,400 °C.
Parker’s strategy was to enter quickly and exit quickly, taking measurements of the solar environment with a series of instruments deployed behind a thick heat shield.
The researchers hope the results will represent a breakthrough in understanding some of the Sun’s key processes.
One of them is a clearer explanation of how the corona, the sun’s outer atmosphere, works.
Nabila Aprilia Putri (7023210248)
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