The Parker Solar Probe will reach astonishing speeds as it dips close to our star's surface in 2024.

It promises to be a remarkable moment in the history of space exploration.

A year from now, on 24 December, Nasa’s Parker Solar Probe will race past the Sun at the astonishing speed of 195 km/s, or 435,000 mph.

No human-made object will have moved so fast nor, indeed, got so close to our star - just 6.1 million km, or 3.8 million miles from the Sun’s “surface”.

“We are basically almost landing on a star,” said Parker project scientist Dr Nour Raouafi.

“This will be a monumental achievement for all humanity. This is equivalent to the Moon landing of 1969,” the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory scientist told BBC News.

      • Zorque@kbin.social
        17·
        11 months ago

        Don’t be dumb, they wouldn’t be able to find it.

        Do it when it’s behind the moon, that way it won’t be as hot but you have some light to see it by.

    • Scubus
      1·
      11 months ago

      They put a mirror on the part that is in the suns light. Can’t heat up if you reflect almost all the light that hits you.