NASA’s Parker Solar Probe attempts to make its closest approach to the Sun.

A NASA spacecraft is attempting to make history by making its closest approach to the Sun.

The Parker Solar Probe is plunging into our star’s outer atmosphere, enduring brutal temperatures and extreme radiation.

It has been out of communication for several days during this scorching hot flight and scientists will be waiting for a signal, expected on December 27, to see if it is still alive.

Hopefully this probe can help us understand how the Sun works.

Dr Nicola Fox, head of science at NASA, told BBC News: “People have studied the sun for centuries, but you can’t experience the atmosphere of a place until you go to see it.

“And so we can’t really experience our star’s atmosphere unless we fly through it.”

The Parker Solar Probe launched in 2018, heading toward the center of our solar system.

It has already passed the sun 21 times, and is getting closer, but the Christmas Eve visit is a record breaker.

At its closest approach, the probe is 3.8 million miles (6.2 million km) from the surface of our star.

That might not sound like that close, but NASA’s Nicola Fox puts it in perspective: “We’re 93 million miles from the Sun, so if I put the Sun and the Earth a meter apart, the Parker Solar Probe would hit the Sun. is four centimeters away, so it’s close.”

The probe will have to withstand temperatures of 1,400C and radiation that could damage the onboard electronics.

It is protected by an 11.5 cm (4.5 in) thick carbon composite shield, but the spacecraft’s trick is to get in and out quickly.

In fact, it will move faster than any human-made object, traveling at 430,000 miles per hour – the equivalent of flying from London to New York in less than 30 seconds.

So why go to all this effort to “touch” the sun?

Scientists hope that as the spacecraft passes through our star’s outer atmosphere – its corona – it will solve a long-standing mystery.

“The corona is really, really hot, and we don’t know why,” explains Fifth Star Labs astrophysicist Dr. Jennifer Millard.

“The surface of the Sun is about 6,000 degrees Celsius or so, but the corona, the tenuous outer atmosphere that you can see during a solar eclipse, has millions of degrees – and it’s further away from the sun. So how is the atmosphere warming?”

The mission should also help scientists better understand the solar wind — the continuous stream of charged particles that erupt from the corona.

When these particles interact with the Earth’s magnetic field, the sky is lit up with bright auroras.

But this so-called space weather can also cause problems, knocking out power grids, electronics and communications systems.

“Understanding the Sun, its activity, space weather, solar wind, is very important to our daily lives on Earth,” says Dr. Millard.

NASA scientists are anxiously awaiting Christmas while the spacecraft is out of touch with Earth.

Nicola Fox says that as soon as there is a signal to return home, the team will text her Greenheart to let her know the investigation is fine.

She admits she’s nervous about the heroic endeavour, but has faith in the investigation.

“I would worry about the spacecraft. But we really designed it to withstand all these cruel, brutal conditions. It’s a tough, tough little spacecraft.”