The Parker Solar Probe
The Parker Solar Probe Holds The Title Of The Fastest Human-Made Object Ever Built, Currently Zipping Through Space At A Staggering Speed Of 700,000 Kilometers Per Hour (About 435,000 Miles Per Hour).
Launched By Nasa In August 2018, This Spacecraft Is On A Daring Mission To “Touch The Sun”—Or More Precisely, To Plunge Into The Sun’s Outer Atmosphere, Known As The Corona.
The Sun Than Any Spacecraft In History.
To Achieve Such Speeds, Parker Uses Repeated Gravity Assists From Venus, Slingshotting Around The Planet To Get Closer To The Sun With Each Orbit. In Doing So, It’s Breaking Not Just Speed Records, But Also Distance Records—It Has Flown Closer To The Sun Than Any Spacecraft In History.
Why So Fast?
It Has To Be. To Orbit So Near To The Sun, Parker Must Fight The Immense Pull Of The Sun’s Gravity, Requiring Incredible Velocity Just To Avoid Being Pulled In. But This Speed Also Allows It To Gather Unprecedented Data On The Solar Wind, Magnetic Fields, And The Mysterious Processes That Heat The Corona To Temperatures Hotter Than The Sun’s Surface.
