What is a solar probe?
Quick Answer
A solar probe is a spacecraft designed to study the Sun up close. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, launched in 2018, is the closest any spacecraft has come to the Sun.
The Full Story
A solar probe is built to travel into the Sun’s harsh environment and collect data about its atmosphere, magnetic field, and solar wind. The Parker Solar Probe launched in August 2018 and uses repeated Venus flybys to tighten its orbit around the Sun. It has flown through the corona and reached speeds of over 190 kilometers per second, making it the fastest human-made object. Its observations are helping scientists understand solar storms and why the corona behaves so strangely.
Key Facts
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"The spacecraft that literally flies through the Sun’s corona"
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