The spacecraft about the size of a small car will travel directly into the sun s atmosphere about 4 million miles from our star s surface.
Parker solar probe orbit path.
Nasa s parker solar probe will be the first ever mission to touch the sun.
A spacecraft that uses breakthrough technology and autonomy to endure heat and radiation like no other mission.
Solar probe plus will orbit the sun 24 times gradually walking in toward the sun with each pass.
On the final three orbits solar probe plus will fly to within 3 7 million miles of the sun s surface.
A scientific mission to unlock the mysteries of the sun s corona and solar wind.
A unique solar observatory that will orbit within 4 million miles of our star s surface to directly study the formation of the solar wind.
What is parker solar probe.
Parker solar probe will use seven venus flybys over nearly seven years to gradually shrink its orbit around the sun coming as close as 3 83 million miles and 6 16 million kilometers to the sun well within the orbit of mercury and about seven times closer than any spacecraft has come before.
The closest points of each orbit come well within the path of mercury the closest planet to the sun.
Studies in the 1970s and 1980s reaffirmed its importance but it.