THE world’s fastest man-made object travels quicker than the speed of sound – but it is only expected to make one more trip before meeting its grim end.
Nasa’s Parker Solar Probe has been coming closer and closer to the Sun as it embarks on a historic journey to sample a star’s atmosphere for the first time.
And it just matched the record it set for the fastest-moving human-made object ever.
The probe reached a speed of 635,266 kilometers per hour (394,736 mph) on June 29 – the second time since its launch in 2018.
To put things in perspective, that’s roughly 500 times faster than the speed of sound.
To achieve this awe-inspiring feat, the probe was aided by one of the Sun’s closest neighbors.
As it looped around the Sun, the spacecraft aligned with the orbit of Venus, using the gravitational forces to propel it forward.
It will complete seven Venus flybys and 24 orbits around the enormous star before the mission’s end.
And that isn’t all. The Parker Probe is expected to move even faster when it makes its closest pass at the Sun next year.
Scientists project it will achieve a top speed of around 692,000 kph (430,000 mph) as it dives into the Sun’s corona, or the outermost layer of its atmosphere.
That’s fast enough to get from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., in one second – a guaranteed record-breaker.
The probe is gathering data to better scientists’ understanding of the Sun.
The primary goals for the mission are to trace the flow of energy, understand the heating of the solar corona, and explore the mechanisms that move energetic particles.
The spacecraft was renamed for for Professor Eugene Parker at the University of Chicago in 2017.
Parker proposed several concepts about how stars radiate energy, deeming the cascade effect “the solar wind.”
The astrophysics professor also theorized an explanation for how the corona is hotter than the Sun’s surface, contrary to the laws of physics.
The namesake probe made headlines in April 2021 when it collected plasma samples and measured changes in the Sun’s magnetic field for the first time.
It has wrapped up its 20th pass around the sun, coming within 7.26 million kilometers of the layer of ionized gas.
That distance is expected to decrease to 6.12 million kilometers during its closest flyby yet.
The probe is outfitted with a thick carbon-composite shield that can brave temperatures of nearly 1,371 degrees Celsius (2,500 degrees Fahrenheit).
At the same time, its back side will be a comparatively temperate 600 degrees Fahrenheit, or around 315 degrees Celsius.
Despite these defenses, the probe is guaranteed to meet a grim end.
Eventually its orbit will no longer allow it to swing around Venus, preventing an even closer encounter with the sun.
The mission is scheduled to end in 2025 following the 24th and final flyby.
What is it, why does it exist, and why is it so ruddy hot all the time?
