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Dec. 27 (UPI) -- The Parker Solar Probe has successfully completed a historic close encounter with the sun, passing through its blazing corona in mankind's nearest approach to the star, NASA announced Friday. The probe, which was launched in 2018, passed within 3.8 million miles of the sun's surface as it swung around the celestial body at a speed of 430,000 mph, which is faster than any human-made object has ever moved, the agency said in a blog post.
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Scientists were anxiously awaiting the reappearance of the probe after it entered the sun's upper atmosphere on Christmas Eve and then orbited around it. When it emerged on the other side unharmed on Friday, they celebrated their success and readied to delve into the unique data it will provide on solar winds and other long-hidden secrets of the solar system.
"Flying this close to the sun is a historic moment in humanity's first mission to a star," said Nicky Fox of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "By studying the sun up close, we can better understand its impacts throughout our solar system, including on the technology we use daily on Earth and in space, as well as learn about the workings of stars across the universe to aid in our search for habitable worlds beyond our home planet."
Officials at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., which designed, built and operates the spacecraft, similarly hailed the achievement.
"This mission is ushering a new golden era of space exploration, bringing us closer than ever to unlocking the sun's deepest and most enduring mysteries," said APL project scientist Nour Rawafi.
It won't be the last time the Parker probe passes close to the sun. Its oval-shaped orbit will bring it back to within 3.8 million miles of its surface every three months, at which distance it is close enough to carry out studies but not too close to burn up at 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit.
The spacecraft's next planned close solar passes come on March 22, 2025, and June 19, 2025.
NASA says the probe is protected by a carbon foam shield which keeps the instruments onboard at a comfortable room temperature.
The data it will provide promises to "revolutionize" mankind's understanding of the sun, scientists say.
It has already shown them that the Sun's corona is wrinkled with spikes and valleys, contrary to what was expected, while also revealing the origins of "switchbacks," or irregularly shaped structures in the solar wind which are visible sun's surface.
"We now understand the solar wind and its acceleration away from the sun," said Adam Szabo of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "This close approach will give us more data to understand how it's accelerated closer in."
