393,044 km / h: the Parker probe is the fastest man-made object
Nasa’s Parker Solar Probe has just broken the record for the fastest man-made object closest to the Sun that it had established.
As it gets closer to the Sun, the Parker probe will continue to beat its own records until 2024, when it is expected to be approximately 6.9 million kilometers from its surface.
A first batch of data transmitted by the probe was the subject of a publication in the journal Nature last December. They partially lift the veil on the magnetic fields and the energetic particles of the Sun.
2020 promises to be an exciting year for the study of our star. On January 29, the Daniel K. Inouye solar telescope installed in Hawaii, took pictures of the surface of the Sun like never before. This telescope, which is the most powerful in the world, is not even in use yet. It should be fully operational in July and offer us a multitude of exceptional images.
Another important meeting, on February 9, the European Space Agency will launch the Solar Orbiter. This spacecraft will not get as close to the sun as the Parker spacecraft, but it will help improve our knowledge of the planet, including taking the very first images of the polar regions of the Sun.
Launched in August 2018 by NASA, the Parker Solar Probe probe is designed to study the Sun's crown by approaching at a distance of less than 7 million kilometers. Before that, the spacecraft that came closest to our star was the Helios 2 probe which had crossed the Sun at 43 million kilometers in 1976. The Parker probe instruments will help scientists understand how the crown of the Sun and the solar wind affect the Earth and the rest of the solar system.
The probe is placed in an orbit which brings it closer and closer to the Sun while reaching unprecedented speeds. During her fourth perihelion (point on the trajectory of a celestial object or vessel in heliocentric orbit which is closest to the Sun) dated January 29, she broke her own records of speed and proximity to the Sun. Here are the data communicated by NASA:
- Fastest artificial object: 393,044 km / h
- Spaceship closest to the sun: 18.6 million km
The two previous records from November 2018:
- Fastest artificial object: 247,000 km / h
- Spaceship closest to the sun: 42.7 million km
As it gets closer to the Sun, the Parker probe will continue to beat its own records until 2024, when it is expected to be approximately 6.9 million kilometers from its surface.
A first batch of data transmitted by the probe was the subject of a publication in the journal Nature last December. They partially lift the veil on the magnetic fields and the energetic particles of the Sun.
2020 promises to be an exciting year for the study of our star. On January 29, the Daniel K. Inouye solar telescope installed in Hawaii, took pictures of the surface of the Sun like never before. This telescope, which is the most powerful in the world, is not even in use yet. It should be fully operational in July and offer us a multitude of exceptional images.
Another important meeting, on February 9, the European Space Agency will launch the Solar Orbiter. This spacecraft will not get as close to the sun as the Parker spacecraft, but it will help improve our knowledge of the planet, including taking the very first images of the polar regions of the Sun.
