Mission Milestones
's successfully completed its second close approach to the sun, reaching within 3.8 million miles (6 million kilometers) of the sun, maintaining its status as the closest any human-made object has come to the star.
The spacecraft, launched in 2018, is designed to withstand extreme conditions, featuring a heat shield that can endure temperatures up to 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,370 degrees Celsius).
Scientific Goals and Future Plans
Scientists aim to use data from the Parker Solar Probe to understand the sun's outer atmosphere's temperature anomalies and the mechanisms driving the solar wind, contributing to broader solar and space weather research.
This mission is part of a series of planned encounters, with the next close approach scheduled, further enhancing our understanding of solar dynamics and their effects on the solar system.