On Friday, NASA said it had received a signal from the Parker Solar Probe confirming that the spacecraft had experienced its closest flyby of the Sun in history. The approach passed just 3.8 million miles from the surface, passed within the solar corona, and allowed for unprecedented data collection close to the star. A few million miles may seem like a lot of distance, but to put things into perspective, explains: “If the solar system were reduced to the distance between the Sun and Earth the length of a football field, the Parker Solar Probe would be only four yards from the end zone.”
The probe's current orbit brings it closer to the Sun approximately every three months. It will make two more close flybys in 2025, on March 22 and June 19. The probe is expected to report its latest approach soon, once it is in a better location. “The data that comes back from the spacecraft will represent fresh information about a place that we as humans have never been,” said Joe Westlake, director of heliophysics at NASA Headquarters. “This is an amazing achievement.”