Parker Solar Probe: Decoding the Sun’s Secrets

Context:

This analysis details the objectives and significance of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, which made a close approach to the Sun on March 22, 2025, as part of its mission to study solar phenomena. Launched in 2018, the probe’s findings enhance our understanding of the Sun and its impact on Earth, offering insights into space science and technology as of March 25, 2025.

Crisp Information in Points:

1. Mission Overview: Launched in August 2018 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a Delta IV rocket, the Parker Solar Probe aims to explore the Sun’s mysteries over a seven-year mission.
2. Close Approach: On March 22, 2025, it flew within 6 million km of the Sun’s surface, the closest any spacecraft has approached, following a similar pass on December 24, 2024.
3. Speed and Shield: Reaching speeds of 692,000 km/hr, it uses an 8-foot-wide, 4.5-inch-thick carbon-composite shield to withstand 1,370°C, keeping internal instruments near room temperature.
4. Scientific Goals: Named after Eugene Parker, who predicted solar wind in 1958, it seeks to understand solar wind origins, coronal heating, and space weather impacts on Earth.
5. Instruments: Equipped with FIELDS (magnetic fields), ISoIS (particle analysis), WISPR (imaging), and SWEAP (solar wind study) to collect data from the Sun’s corona.
6. Orbital Strategy: Utilizes Earth’s and Venus’s gravity to spiral closer to the Sun, spending over 2,000 hours in the corona across 24 equatorial orbits.
7. Solar Wind Insight: Aims to unravel why the corona is hotter (1 million°C) than the Sun’s surface (6,000°C) and how solar wind accelerates to affect Earth’s technology.
8. Future Plans: Another close approach is scheduled for June 19, 2025, with data from March 22 expected to reveal new solar phenomena insights.

Key Terms:

• Solar Wind: Stream of charged particles emitted from the Sun’s corona.
• Corona: The Sun’s outer atmosphere, significantly hotter than its surface.
• Parker Solar Probe: NASA spacecraft designed to study the Sun up close.
• Thermal Shield: Carbon-composite barrier protecting the probe from extreme heat.
• FIELDS: Instrument measuring magnetic fields in the Sun’s corona.
• Space Weather: Solar activity affecting Earth’s technological systems.
• Helio–physics: Study of the Sun and its interactions with the solar system.

Link To The Original Article – https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/why-is-nasa-parker-solar-probe-trying-to-touch-sun/article69371673.ece