The Fastest Spacecraft Ever Heads for Its Close-Up With the Sun
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On Tuesday at 6:40 a.m. Eastern time, the Parker Solar Probe, a NASA spacecraft, is passing within 3.8 million miles of the sun's surface, more than seven times as close as any previous mission has. While surfing across the corona, the sun's outer atmosphere, Parker was expected to surpass the incomprehensible speed of 430,000 mph, breaking its own record as the fastest object ever made by humans.
«It's a voyage of discovery,» said Nicky Fox, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate. «We really are going into the unknown. Nothing has flown through the atmosphere of a star, and no other mission will for a long time.»
Since its launch in 2018, Parker has inched progressively closer to the sun during 21 solar flybys, called perihelions. The mission, a collaboration between NASA and Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, has revolutionized our understanding of the sun, spotted comets, snapped captivating pictures and yielded insights about Venus.
In addition to its scientific haul, Parker has overcome the technical challenges of flying so close to the sun that the probe's heat shield must contend with temperatures of nearly 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
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