NASA's Parker Solar Probe will make its closest-ever sun approach on Christmas Eve, but why is its success a mystery to us?

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is gearing up for an extraordinary milestone. The spacecraft was supposed to make its closest-ever approach to the Sun on December 24. At precisely 6:53 a.m. EST, the probe might have reached just 3.8 million miles (6.1 million kilometres) from the solar surface. Travelling at a speed of 430,000 mph (692,000 kph), it will gather data from the Sun’s outer atmosphere, known as the corona.

Mission Details and Flyby Preparations
The Parker Solar Probe, a NASA project designed by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL), has achieved remarkable progress. It has already completed 21 solar encounters and seven Venus flybys. This upcoming flyby marks its 22nd solar approach, aiming to uncover new insights about the Sun’s outer layers.

Nick Pinkine, mission operations manager at JHUAPL, highlighted the importance of this flyby. He explained that the probe would provide invaluable data from regions never before explored by spacecraft. A final transmission was sent to Earth on 20 December, confirming the probe’s systems are functioning normally.

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During the flyby, the spacecraft will lose contact with Earth. Communication is expected to resume on 27 December, providing a health update. Scientific data, including telemetry, is anticipated to start arriving by January 2025.