Parker solar probe

Introduction

The Parker Solar Probe is a NASA’s space probe launched in 2018. Its mission is to explore the mysteries of the Sun by travelling closer to it than any spacecraft before.

The cost of the project is US$1.5 billion. Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory designed and built the spacecraft.

Interesting Facts about Parker Solar Probe

1. It became the first NASA spacecraft named after a living person. It is named after nonagenarian physicist Eugene Newman Parker.
2. A memory card containing the names of over 1.1 million people was mounted on a plaque and installed below the spacecraft’s high-gain antenna.
   •  The card also contains photos of Parker and a copy of his 1958 scientific paper predicting important aspects of solar physics.
3. It is the first spacecraft to fly into the low solar corona.

Latest News

For the first time in history, a spacecraft has touched the Sun. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has now flown through the Sun’s upper atmosphere – the corona – and sampled particles and magnetic fields there. 

Source:

1. NASA
2. Wikipedia