The spacecraft that touched the Sun

Parker Solar Probe

Parker Solar Probe launched in August 2018 to fly closer to the Sun than any spacecraft before it. Using seven gravity assists from Venus, it gradually shrank its orbit until, on 24 December 2024, it passed about 6.1 million km from the Sun's surface.

At that point it was travelling at roughly 690,000 km/h, making it the fastest human-made object ever.

Key facts

Agency: NASA / JHUAPL
Launched: 2018-08-12
Launch vehicle: Delta IV Heavy
Power: Water-cooled solar arrays
Mission type: Solar orbiter
Named after: Astrophysicist Eugene Parker
Status: Orbiting the Sun, diving through the solar corona every 88 days

Where it is now

Loading live position from NASA/JPL Horizons…

Repeated close passes of the Sun in its final orbit.

Mission objectives

Parker is designed to discover why the Sun's outer atmosphere, the corona, is hundreds of times hotter than its visible surface, how the solar wind is accelerated to supersonic speeds, and what produces the Sun's most energetic particles.

The spacecraft

A carbon-composite heat shield 11.4 cm thick keeps the instruments near room temperature while its Sun-facing side endures temperatures of around 1,400°C. Sensors constantly check the spacecraft's orientation so the shield always points at the Sun.

Instruments

Its four instrument suites — FIELDS, WISPR, SWEAP and IS☉IS — measure electric and magnetic fields, image the solar wind, and sample particles directly as the spacecraft flies through them.

Discoveries and highlights

In April 2021 Parker became the first spacecraft to fly through the corona. It found sudden reversals in the Sun's magnetic field, nicknamed 'switchbacks', and traced them back towards the solar surface.

Route and timeline

2018-08-12Launch, Cape Canaveral
2018-10-03First Venus gravity assist
2021-04-28First spacecraft to fly through the Sun's corona
2024-11-06Seventh and final Venus gravity assist
2024-12-24Record closest approach to the Sun

Surprising facts about Parker Solar Probe

It was the first NASA spacecraft named after a living person.
At closest approach it could travel from New York to Tokyo in under a minute.
Each orbit now lasts about 88 days, the same length as Mercury's year.

Keep exploring

Sources

Parker Solar Probe

At that point it was travelling at roughly 690,000 km/h, making it the fastest human-made object ever.

The spacecraft

Instruments

Its four instrument suites — FIELDS, WISPR, SWEAP and IS☉IS — measure electric and magnetic fields, image the solar wind, and sample particles directly as the spacecraft flies through them.