According to the Associated Press, a NASA probe is gearing up for its second close encounter with the sun, part of a series of planned flybys through the intense solar atmosphere. The Parker Solar Probe achieved a historic milestone in December when it came within 3.8 million miles (6 million kilometers) of the blazing star, setting a new record for proximity to the sun. Scheduled to repeat this daring maneuver on Saturday, the spacecraft will be out of communication range during the flyby, with mission control eagerly awaiting data transmission on Tuesday afternoon.
Parker Solar Probe, the fastest human-made spacecraft, is expected to reach speeds of 430,000 mph (690,000 kph) at its closest approach. Launched in 2018 for a close-up exploration of the sun, the probe has already traversed the sun’s outer atmosphere, known as the corona. Scientists anticipate that the information gathered by Parker will shed light on the mystery of why the sun’s corona is significantly hotter than its surface, as well as the underlying mechanisms driving the solar wind, a rapid flow of charged particles emanating from the sun.
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