Fastest object ever made flies 435,000mph and could go from London to New York in 29 seconds
The fastest object ever made flies 435,000mph and could go from London to New York in just 29 seconds.
The super fast object is the Parker Solar probe which is currently racing towards the sun in order to study its surface and atmosphere.
It’s so fast that it can fly the distance of London to New York in a matter of seconds.
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This is because it is being pulled by huge gravitational forces and now, it’s in its closest orbit yet.
The probe is on track to fly 3.8 million miles over the surface of the sun.
This means that the probe will be in the corona, which is the outer atmosphere of the sun.
During a total solar eclipse, the corona is visible from Earth bright wisps.
Being so close to the sun means the heat will be pretty intense for the probe and its expected to withstand up to 1,400 degrees celsius (2,552 degrees fahrenheit).
It’s not yet known whether it’ll actually survive the trip and scientists won’t find out until it signals back down to Earth tomorrow (December 27).
Speaking to Sky News, mission design and navigation manager, Yanping Guo, said: “We will be looking forward to that. It's like a baby to me.
“But I'm pretty confident we will hear good news and get more data from the spacecraft.”
The probe was first launched back in August 2018 and since then, it has been looping closer and closer to the sun.
Now on its 22nd orbit, the probe is reaching the closest that it’s ever going to get.
It’s hoped that scientists will be able to study the data collected from the fly-by, giving more insight into the nature of the sun.
Professor Tim Horbury said: “The radiation can damage astronauts, it can knock out satellites and even have effects on the ground, for example, on the power grid," he said.
“By understanding how the solar wind is made and how it carries the magnetic field out into interplanetary space, we hope in the long run to be able to make better predictions about what's going to arrive at the Earth.”
He went on to add: “I'm incredibly lucky to be at this moment in my career when finally this mission is flying so we can do the science we've wanted to do for decades.
“The science is great, but the engineering achievement is extraordinary. It's an extraordinary environment in which to travel.”