How Nasa will attempt to ‘touch the Sun’
Parker Solar Probe, which launches this week, will fly closer to the Sun that any man-made object in history

A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
Nasa is set to launch a space exploration mission this week that will attempt to “touch the Sun” and could offer vital clues about how solar energy works.
The Parker Solar Probe, which is due to be launched from Cape Canaveral on Saturday, will fly closer to the Sun than any man-made object in history, beaming back invaluable new data on the star’s properties and atmospheric conditions over a seven-year period.
The project is named in honour of American physicist Eugene Parker who first speculated on the nature of solar winds in 1958, and the first time a Nasa mission has honoured a living person.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
While Nasa scientists have intended to launch a solar mission for decades, cuts made to the space programme by successive presidents have hampered development, while “only recent technological advances in cooling systems and fault management have made it possible” says The Independent.
On its final close approach, in 2025, the Parker Solar Probe will get within 4 million miles of the Sun's surface — so close that it will actually fly through the star's incredibly hot atmosphere, called the corona, Nasa officials have said.
This will enable the probe to work on three main questions: why its atmosphere becomes hotter farther away from the surface of the Sun, how the solar wind of charged particles streaming out into space is born, and what causes the gigantic outbursts scientists call coronal mass ejections.
“The answers could be crucial to scientists' understanding of how stars beyond our solar system work” says Space.com, adding that “closer to home, the probe's work should also help scientists understand and predict the hazards of living near a star” including why solar activity can interfere with communications and navigation systems.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
-
Hollywood writers on the cusp of ending strike after reaching tentative agreement
Speed Read Actors are still on strike, but the Writers Guild of America appears to have struck a deal after 5 days of marathon talks
By Peter Weber Published
-
'Soldiers on standby'
Today's Newspapers A round-up of the headlines from the UK front pages
By The Week Staff Published
-
Wife blasts farting OnlyFans model
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden Published
-
Asteroid sample on way to Earth may help answer Big Bang questions
Speed Read Capsule of dust from Bennu will probably show signs of water and carbon: the building blocks of life
By Harriet Marsden Published
-
K2-18b: the exoplanet that could have signs of life
The Explainer Scientists may have discovered evidence of farts from alien marine creatures 120 light years away
By Arion McNicoll Published
-
NASA loses contact with Voyager 2 probe
Speed Read
By Devika Rao Published
-
Will a solar storm wreak havoc on the internet?
Speed Read Tales of a Wi-Fi doomsday have been spreading across social media in recent weeks
By Brigid Kennedy Published
-
Biden keeps U.S. Space Command in Colorado, reversing Trump move to Alabama
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Northern lights expected to be visible in 17 states on Thursday
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
Scientists find evidence of gravitational waves warping space-time throughout the cosmos
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
The biggest upcoming celestial events to watch in 2023
In Depth Meteor showers, eclipses and more are coming to the skies
By Devika Rao Last updated