Parker Solar Probe Completes Fourth Closest Approach, Breaks New Speed and Distance Records

At 4:37 a.m. EST on Jan. 29, 2020, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe broke speed and distance records as it completed its fourth close approach of the Sun. The spacecraft traveled 11.6 million miles from the Sun’s surface at perihelion, reaching a speed of 244,225 miles per hour. These achievements topple Parker Solar Probe’s own previous records for closest spacecraft to the Sun — previously about 15 million miles from the Sun’s surface — and fastest human-made object, before roughly 213,200 miles per hour.

Parker Solar Probe will continue to fly ever closer to the Sun on its seven-year journey, exploring regions of space never visited before and providing scientists with key measurements to help unveil the mysteries of the solar corona and wind.

As with most of Parker Solar Probe’s close approaches, the spacecraft is out of contact with Earth for several days around perihelion.

By Justyna Surowiec

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab

Parker Solar Probe Prepares for New Science, New Records on Fourth Solar Orbit

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe began its fourth solar encounter today at 9:00 a.m. EST, at a distance of about 23.3 million miles from the Sun’s surface. It will reach perihelion, its closest distance to our star, during this orbit on Jan. 29 at about 4:30 a.m. EST.

Plot of Parker Solar Probe's position on Jan. 23, 2020, as it approaches the Sun.
Parker Solar Probe began its fourth solar encounter on Jan. 23, 2020. Track the spacecraft’s speed and position online.

The fourth perihelion will send the spacecraft within 11.6 million miles of the Sun, closer than its first three perihelia, which were at about 15 million miles from the Sun. The spacecraft’s four instrument suites will acquire data in this new environment, sampling this previously unexplored region around the Sun and potentially revealing new information about the solar wind and atmosphere.

Parker Solar Probe’s first three orbits of the Sun were all approximately the same distance from our star. Following the mission’s second Venus flyby on Dec. 26, 2019, and after one trajectory correction maneuver on Jan. 10, the spacecraft will set new records for distance from the Sun and fastest human-made object during its fourth perihelion; both records are currently held by Parker Solar Probe.

By Geoff Brown

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab