NASA Spacecraft Enters into The Atmosphere of The Sun

Mar, 2022 - By SMI

Parker Solar Probe has successfully entered into the atmosphere of the Sun for the space exploration mission.

The research team of NASA has officially announced on December 14^th, to the American Geophysical Union, that their spacecraft has touched the Sun. NASA stated that their Parker Solar probe has officially touched the surface of the Sun. The rocket has entered into the last level of atmosphere around the Sun, known as the corona layer. The probe has been launched into the first layer of atmospheric pressure in April. The spacecraft took almost eight months to approach the end level of the corona layer. The research team stated that the spacecraft requires a few months to collect the surrounding data and later needs some time to confirm it.

The project head of John Hopkins University, Nour Raouafi has remarked this mission as “Fascinatingly exciting” on the official website. He also remarked on the dusty exterior of the probe, indicating the solar dust particles on the probe. The data collected by the probe will help for a better understanding of the solar wind patterns that occurred regularly on the Sun.

The Parker Solar Probe has been launched into space in 2018. The spacecraft began its trajectory path towards the Sun with the control of the crew at John Hopkins University. The spacecraft has covered almost 8 million miles of path on the surface of the Sun. The layers around the Sun contain uneven edges of nuclear explosions. The control crew chose the shortest path around the Sun to enter in corona layer. The probe has entered and come out of the corona layer to confirm the communication channel between the probe and Earth. The Parker probe has travelling at the speed of 62 miles per second into the corona layer. At this speed, the probe can gather a vast amount of data to recover on the Earth.

The lack of solid surface around the Sun makes the corona layer, the last layer of the atmosphere of the Sun. By exploring this layer, the scientist will get better knowledge for any upcoming missions. The Parker probe will end its mission by 2025. Till then the probe is on a mission to explore the corona layer more deeply.