Scientists report that the Parker Solar Probe has “touched” the Sun, coming within 6.1 million kilometers of the solar surface—closer than any spacecraft in history.
On December 24, 2024, Parker flew just 6.1 million kilometers from the Sun at an astonishing speed of 700,000 km/h. It is equipped with a carbon heat shield designed to withstand temperatures up to 1,400°C, protecting its onboard instruments and cameras from extreme heat.
Mission of Parker
Launched on August 12, 2018, the Parker Solar Probe was sent toward the Sun to study it at close range. The mission aims to examine the solar atmosphere—especially the Sun’s outer layer called the corona—the intense solar wind, and the energy forces emitted by the star.
The spacecraft had to defy the Sun’s intense gravity, which normally forces everything near it to orbit at incredible speeds (like planets). Parker reached speeds up to 692,000 km/h, making it the fastest human-made object in history.
One of the scientific goals of the Parker Probe is to understand why the Sun’s corona is much hotter than its surface, to discover the origin of the solar wind, and to learn how particles are accelerated to such high speeds.
The spacecraft was named after American astrophysicist Eugene Parker, who passed away in March 2022.
