NASA spacecraft “touches” the Sun for the first time

For the first time in history a spaceship has “touched” the Sun. Three years after its launch in 2018, the Parker Solar Probe has flown through the upper atmosphere of the star, the corona, and taken samples of the particles and magnetic fields, as reported by NASA this Tuesday. Conceived for the first time decades ago, the probe had the objective of exploring the mysteries of the astro by getting closer than any other spacecraft until now and now, finally, it has arrived.

For the space agency, this is a important milestone for solar science. “Just as reaching the Moon allowed scientists to understand how it was formed, touching the very matter that the Sun is made of will help scientists discover critical information about our closest star and its influence on the Solar System,” says the NASA in a statement.

“It is a monumental moment for solar science and a truly remarkable feat,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, who stressed that “everything we learn about our own star also teaches us more about the rest of the stars in the universe“.

As it approaches the solar surface, Parker makes new discoveries that other ships were too far away to observe, including from within the solar wind, the flow of particles from the Sun that can influence us on Earth.

As early as 2019, the probe discovered abundant abundant zig-zag structures in the solar wind near the star. Now, it has gotten close enough to identify a place where they originate, the solar surface. With your first and upcoming flights through the solar corona, you will continue to collect data on phenomena that it is impossible to study from afar, according to NASA.