The Parker Solar Probe has recently conducted its record breaking pass with the sun.

During this pass, it broke the record not only for becoming the closest manmade object to the sun (without getting burned up), but it also became the fastest manmade object of all time.

On December 24, 2024 passed by the sun at just 6.1 million kilometers (3.8 million miles) away from its surface. While this certainly sounds like a great distance, it is actually extremely close when talking about the incredible temperatures in that area.

While approaching the sun, it was assisted by the massive amount of gravity, which allowed it to reach the astounding speeds of 690,000 kilometers (430,000 miles) per hour. This breaks the record for the fastest spacecraft ever.

NASA expected that the probe would be unable to communicate back to Earth due to the interference from the sun, and they were right. The probe went silent on December 20th, and NASA did not think they would hear anything until sometime on the 27th of December.

The probe surprised everyone, however, when it sent a signal just before midnight on December 26th. The probe reported that it is operating normally.

At its nearest, the probe was traveling through temperatures that were up to 980° C (1800° F).

This is actually the 22nd time that this probe has passed by the Earth in its long orbit between Venus and the Sun. this one is important because it is scheduled to be the closest it will ever get. It may, however, pick up some speed as it uses both the sun and Venus to ‘slingshot’ and boost its speed.

NASA is still waiting for the probe to finish sending back the data that it gathered during this historic pass.

NASA Parker Solar Probe Program scientist Arik Posner put out a statement saying:

“This is one example of NASA’s bold missions, doing something that no one else has ever done before to answer longstanding questions about our universe. We can’t wait to receive that first status update from the spacecraft and start receiving the science data in the coming weeks.”

The information will hopefully allow scientists to learn more about the corona of the sun and how it works.

Those speeds are astounding.

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read a story that reveals Earth’s priciest precious metal isn’t gold or platinum and costs over $10,000 an ounce!