Parker Solar Probe

Mission Launch:
Aug. 12, 2018
Planned to last until 2025.

Mission Goals

• Gather data about Sun's corona.
• Measure electrical fields.
• Capture images.
• Detect protons, neutrons & electrons.
• Study solar wind.

Importance of the Mission

• The Sun is a source of light and heat for life on Earth. The more we know about it, the more we can understand how life on Earth developed.
• The more we learn about what causes space weather – and how to predict it – the more we can protect the satellites we depend on.

The spacecraft will fly through the Sun’s atmosphere as close as 3.8 million miles to our star’s surface, well within the orbit of Mercury and more than seven times closer than any spacecraft has come before. (Earth’s average distance to the Sun is 93 million miles.)

This footage was captured when the probe went through the Sun's corona.

Key Discoveries

• Made the first-ever crossing of what’s known as the Alfvén critical surface – the boundary where solar material first escapes and becomes the solar wind.
• Revealed that the Alfvén critical surface wasn’t shaped like a smooth ball. Rather, it has spikes and valleys that wrinkle the surface.

Parker Solar Probe Captures its First Images of Venus' Surface in Visible Light.