Parker Solar Probe is a heat-shielded spacecraft that dives repeatedly through the Sun's corona, the outer atmosphere visible during eclipses. Its carbon-composite shield faces 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit while instruments behind it sit near room temperature.
In December 2024 it made its closest approach: 3.8 million miles from the solar surface at 430,000 mph, the fastest any human-made object has ever traveled. It is the first spacecraft to fly through the corona and the first NASA mission named for a living scientist, Eugene Parker.
The solar wind Parker studies drives space weather, which can knock out satellites, GPS, and power grids on Earth. Understanding why the corona is hundreds of times hotter than the Sun's surface has been a mystery for 80 years; Parker is answering it from inside.
Key Facts
- Launched
- August 12, 2018
- Record speed
- 430,000 mph (December 2024)
- Closest approach
- 3.8 million miles from the solar surface
- Heat shield
- Faces about 2,500°F
- Named for
- Eugene Parker, who predicted the solar wind
Timeline
August 2018
Launch from Cape Canaveral
December 2021
First spacecraft to fly through the corona
December 2024
Record closest approach and speed
Next up
Continued close solar passes
Latest Parker Solar Probe News
NASA Johnson Pilots Chase Moon’s Shadow for Eclipse Science
During the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse over Europe, scientists aimed to study a long-standing mystery: why the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, is far hotter than its visible surface. Capturing the data they needed me
Parker Solar Probe
NASA Shares Views of August Solar Eclipse from Ground, Air, Space
On Aug. 12, a total solar eclipse darkened skies over Greenland, Iceland, and Spain. As the Moon covered the Sun, it briefly revealed the Sun’s wispy outer atmosphere — the corona — to those in the path of totality who w
Parker Solar Probe
APOD: 2026 August 17 – A Golden Corona Eclipse
APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 August 17 – A… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About Discuss APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photogra
Parker Solar Probe
NASA’s PUNCH Sharpens Solar Storm Forecasting in First Test
Using continuous imagery from NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission, scientists predicted the near-Earth arrival of a solar eruption to within 30 minutes in an initial proof of concept te
Parker Solar Probe
Earth and Proba-3’s Coronagraph play hide and seek
From the ESA Blogs.
Parker Solar Probe
Facts last reviewed 2026-07-11. Official mission page: science.nasa.gov