He survived! NASA's probe that touched the Sun and set two records has sent a signal

The world's fastest probe, the Parker Solar Probe, has survived after successfully completing its closest approach to the Sun. NASA said that their spacecraft, which set two records, is "safe".

The agency reported that the operations team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland received a beacon signal from the probe shortly before midnight on Thursday. After a historic close encounter with the Sun, Parker is operating normally, Reuters reports.

On December 24, the NASA probe made history by flying closer to the Sun than any spacecraft before. It flew 6.1 million kilometers above the surface of the hot star at a tremendous speed of 692,000 km/h. In this way, Parker broke two records at once: speed and closest contact with the Sun.

According to the scientists, the probe visited the outer atmosphere of our star, called the corona, where it withstood temperatures of up to 982 degrees Celsius.

"This close-up study of the Sun allows Parker Solar Probe to make measurements that help scientists better understand how material in this region heats up to millions of degrees. Also, track the origin of the solar wind and learn how energetic particles are accelerated to near-light speeds," NASA said.

The agency expects the spacecraft to send detailed telemetry data on its status on January 1.

It is known that the Parker Solar Probe was launched in 2018 and gradually approached the Sun, using a flyby of Venus to gravitationally pull into a closer orbit with the hot star.

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