In April 2021, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe became the first human-made object to “touch” the sun. The probe, which was launched in 2018, has spent more than three years circling closer and closer to the star at the center of our solar system. Last year, the spacecraft officially crossed into the sun’s corona—the outermost layer of the star’s atmosphere.
The sun is a giant ball of scorchinghot gases. Parts of its corona reach more than 1.1 million°C (2 million°F). The probe was designed to avoid these superhot areas. It was also equipped with a heat shield to protect it from extreme temperatures.
Instruments on board the Parker Solar Probe are gathering data to help scientists understand how heat and energy move through the sun’s corona and how the sun creates solar wind. These streams of charged particles can disturb technology on Earth. “What we are learning from this mission is just mind-blowing,” says Nour Raouafi, the mission’s project scientist. “It’s rewriting the textbooks for us.”