NASA Parker Solar Probe send home first detailed update after closest approach to sun

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has succeeded in reaching the closest point to the Sun, and it has sent its data for the first time after going so close to the Sun. New Year’s celebrations doubled for NASA when Parker Solar Probe sent the first telemetry to Earth on January 1. Telemetry is also called housekeeping data. Parker Solar Probe has become the first man-made spacecraft to reach the closest point to the Sun.

Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL) received Parker Solar Probe’s first telemetry on January 1. This revealed that all the systems and science instruments of Parker Solar Probe are fine and functioning normally. NASA recently issued an update regarding this.

Michael Buckley, a spokesman for JHUAPL, which is overseeing the mission, told Space.com, ‘All is well so far with the spacecraft’s systems and equipment, this is truly a remarkable spacecraft!’ The latest telemetry transmission also confirms that Parker Solar Probe successfully executed the commands given to its flight computers. Its scientific instruments were also functioning properly during the flight.

This means that the spacecraft has collected valuable data about our star. It reached within 6.1 million kilometers of the Sun, which had never been done before by any spacecraft. This is the closest visit to the Sun so far. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe flew very close to the Sun on Christmas Eve. It cost one and a half billion dollars to build Parker Solar Probe.