On March 22, the Parker probe had its number 23 approach to Solmatching your own record when it flying just 6.1 million kilometers from the solar surface. Only on December 24 of last year achieved a similar feat. It is the spacecraft that has been closest to our star. But how is it possible that he doesn’t smile?
Parker is a NASA probe launched on August 12, 2018, designed to study the outer crown of the sun and better understand the behavior of the solar wind. In 2021, he became the first ship in “touching” the solar atmosphere.
MIRA: Parker repeats the feat: the probe brushes the sun and reaches its proximity record
The sun is an immense plasma ball without solid surface. What we see is the photograph, a bright layer where incandescent gas columns emerge and magnetic fields are intertwined. Beyond the crown extends, so faint that it is only seen during a total eclipse.
In that region, Temperatures exceed 5,600 ° Cmore than enough to melt any known material. However, Parker survives thanks to a complex thermal engineering.
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The shield that challenges solar hell
The key is in your Thermal shieldqIt always remains oriented towards the sun. Behind him, all the instruments of the probe remain protected. Even solar panels only unfold when Parker is further from the star, they explain from the country.
This shield is a kind of carbon foam “sandwich” about 11 centimeters thick, covered by sheets of the same material. The face exposed to the sun has a white ceramic layer that reflects much of the heat. Even so, in each perihelio (the point closest to the sun), the surface of the shield reaches temperatures of up to 1,300 ° C.
Solar fireproof technology
According to the Spanish media, Each probe component was designed to withstand extreme conditions. The copper, usual in the electrical cables, would not serve: it would melt. Instead is used, wrapped in sapphire glass covers.
The only instrument that looks over the shield – Faraday’s cavity, in charge of measuring the solar wind – is made with an alloy of titanium, circumdeno and molybdenum, capable of supporting up to 2,300 ° C. Its electrodes are tungsten, the metal with the highest known fusion point: more than 3,400 ° C. Some pieces were molded not with laser, but by chemical attacks with acid, due to their resistance.
A good part of these systems were designed and built in the Laboratory of Applied Physics of the Johns Hopkins University, one of the most advanced centers in space engineering.
Thanks to this technology, Parker continues to challenge the limits of the known space, approaching the heart of our star and sending crucial data to understand how the sun influences the entire solar system, including the earth.