Touching the Sun at Extreme Speeds

The Parker Solar Probe is humanity's fastest object, flying so close to the Sun that it experiences temperatures over 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit while racing at 430,000 miles per hour.

To survive this intense environment, the probe is protected by a revolutionary carbon-composite heat shield that stays cool even while the outer surface glows bright orange. By diving directly into the solar atmosphere, it solves mysteries that have puzzled scientists for decades. It is essentially our first spacecraft to "touch" a star, providing a front-row seat to the massive energy forces that shape our entire solar system.