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NASA's Parker Solar Probe, launched in 2018, flies through the Sun's outer atmosphere, the corona. In December 2024 it passed just 6.1 million kilometres from the solar surface, closer than any spacecraft before it.

Parker Solar Probe

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The story behind the card

The probe is named after the astrophysicist Eugene Parker, who in 1958 predicted the solar wind, the stream of charged particles flowing out from the Sun; it was the first NASA spacecraft named after a living person. A carbon-composite heat shield about 11 centimetres thick faces the Sun and heats to around 1,000 °C, while the instruments behind it stay near room temperature. Seven flybys of Venus shrank its orbit step by step. At its closest passes it travels at about 690,000 kilometres per hour, the fastest any human-made object has gone. In 2021 it became the first spacecraft to fly through the corona. Its measurements help explain how the solar wind is launched and how solar storms can disrupt satellites and power grids.

Türkçe oku
NASA'nın 2018'de fırlatılan Parker Güneş Sondası, Güneş'in korona denen dış atmosferinin içinden geçerek uçuyor. Aralık 2024'te Güneş'in yüzeyine yalnızca 6,1 milyon kilometre yaklaştı; daha önce hiçbir uzay aracı bu kadar yaklaşmamıştı.

Sonda, adını 1958'de güneş rüzgârının, yani Güneş'ten dışarı akan yüklü parçacık akımının varlığını öngören astrofizikçi Eugene Parker'dan alır; NASA'nın yaşayan birinin adını verdiği ilk uzay aracıdır. Güneş'e dönük, yaklaşık 11 santimetre kalınlığındaki karbon kompozit ısı kalkanı 1.000 °C dolayına kadar ısınır; arkasındaki aletler ise oda sıcaklığına yakın kalır. Venüs'ün yakınından yedi kez geçen sonda, her geçişte yörüngesini biraz daha daralttı. En yakın geçişlerinde saatte yaklaşık 690.000 kilometre hıza ulaşır; insan yapımı hiçbir nesne bu kadar hızlı gitmemiştir. 2021'de koronanın içinden geçen ilk uzay aracı oldu. Ölçümleri, güneş rüzgârının nasıl oluştuğunu ve güneş fırtınalarının uyduları ve elektrik şebekelerini nasıl bozabildiğini anlamaya yardımcı oluyor.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Parker Solar Probe
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