Breaking News English

Things are heating [down / up] for the USA's National Aeronautical Space Administration (NASA). One [of / at] the agency's missions is to study the Sun. In 2018, NASA sent a small research probe to [photography / photograph] our nearest star. The spacecraft is [calling / called] the Parker Solar Probe. It made history [on / in] Christmas Eve by going closer to the Sun than any spacecraft has ever gone before. Parker flew to [wither / within] 6.1 million kilometers of the Sun. This is very [close / closed] . Parker also holds another record. It is the fastest object ever [built / builds] by humans. In September 2023, it flew [in / at] a speed of 635,266 kph. At this speed, the probe could travel the 10,846 km from New York to Tokyo in [adjust / just] 1.025 minutes.

The Parker Solar Probe is [naming / named] after the astrophysicist Dr Eugene Parker. He spent most of his [live / life] studying the Sun and its solar flares. He wanted to know [why / what] the flares, which shoot off from the Sun's surface, are [heated / hotter] than the surface. This is known [has / as] the "coronal heating problem". It is a long-standing mystery [for / at] scientists. The temperature at the Sun's surface is around 4,100ºC; while the temperature of the corona's flares can [reach / beach] 1.1 million degrees Celsius. Scientists also hope to find out how [solar / lunar] winds originate. NASA said Parker (the probe) has [faced / headed] extreme heat on its record-breaking fly-by. Temperatures reached a [scorching / scratching] 980 degrees Celsius.