Parker Solar Probe

The Parker Solar Probe is a space probe, launched in 2018, designed to try to come close enough to Sol, our sun to "touch the corona".^[1]

The probe's first close approach was in 2021.^[1] The probe was designed to make a total 7 close approaches. Each approach was designed to fly closer to Sol, and its intense heat and the charged particles in the Solar wind.

The probe outer envelope is a Carbon-composite shield, 4.5 inches (11 cm) thick, designed to protect it from up to 1,377 degrees Kelvin.^[1]

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 "Parker Solar Probe". NASA Science. 2019-03-01. Retrieved 2026-06-29. On a mission to “touch the Sun,” NASA's Parker Solar Probe became the first spacecraft to fly through the corona — the Sun’s upper atmosphere — in 2021.

[NASAScienceParkerSolarProbe-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 "Parker Solar Probe". NASA Science. 2019-03-01. Retrieved 2026-06-29. On a mission to “touch the Sun,” NASA's Parker Solar Probe became the first spacecraft to fly through the corona — the Sun’s upper atmosphere — in 2021.

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