“Following its record-breaking closest approach to the Sun, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has transmitted a beacon tone back to Earth indicating it’s in good health and operating normally. The mission operations team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland received the signal just before midnight EST on the night of Dec 26. The team was out of contact with the spacecraft during closest approach, which occurred on Dec 24, with Parker Solar Probe zipping just 3.8 million miles from the solar surface while moving about 430,000 miles per hour. The spacecraft is expected to send back detailed telemetry data on its status on Jan 1.”

“This close-up study of the Sun allows Parker Solar Probe to take measurements that help scientists better understand how material in this region gets heated to millions of degrees, trace the origin of the solar wind (a continuous flow of material escaping the Sun), and discover how energetic particles are accelerated to near light speed. Previous close passes have helped scientists pinpoint the origins of structures in solar wind and map the outer boundary of the Sun’s atmosphere,” says NASA in an update on the Parker Solar probe surviving close contact with Earth’s fiery overlord.

NASA doesn’t mention what if any vendors built the probe but the simple fact that it didn’t melt or abruptly plummet into the star’s surface should indicate that it’s not probably a Boeing product.