NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Completes 26th Closest Approach to Sun
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe completed its 26th close approach to the Sun on Dec. 13, again matching its record distance of 3.8 million miles (6.2 million kilometers) from the solar surface.
The spacecraft checked in with flight controllers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland — where Parker Solar Probe was also designed and built — Thursday, transmitting a beacon tone indicating that its systems were operating normally. The spacecraft was out of contact with Earth and operating autonomously during the close approach.
The spacecraft also equaled its record-setting speed of 430,000 mph (687,000 kph) — a mark that, like the distance, was set and subsequently matched during close approaches on Dec. 24, 2024; March 22; June 19; and Sept. 16. Parker Solar Probe will remain in this orbit around the Sun and continue making observations. The next steps for the mission in late 2026 and beyond are formally under NASA review.
During this solar encounter from Dec. 8 through Dec. 18, Parker’s four scientific instrument packages gathered data from inside the Sun’s atmosphere, or corona. The flyby, as the fifth at this distance and speed, is allowing the spacecraft to conduct unrivaled measurements of the solar wind and solar activity while the Sun is in an active phase of its 11-year cycle.
Parker will begin returning detailed telemetry on its status on Friday, Dec. 19, with science data transmission for this solar encounter set to start on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. Parker’s observations of the solar wind and solar events, such as coronal mass ejections and the aftermaths of flares, are critical to advancing humankind’s understanding of the Sun and the phenomena that drive high-energy space weather events that pose risks to astronauts, satellites, air travel, and even power grids on Earth. Understanding the fundamental physics of space weather enables more reliable prediction of astronaut safety during future deep-space missions to the Moon and Mars.
Parker Solar Probe was developed as a part of NASA’s Living With a Star (LWS) program to explore aspects of the Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. The LWS program is managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Johns Hopkins APL manages Parker Solar Probe for NASA and designed, built, and operates the mission.
By Mike Buckley
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
