The Parker Solar Probe has successfully launched on its historic mission to 'touch' the Sun. This spacecraft is undertaking what is arguably the most extreme engineering challenge ever attempted by NASA.



Over the next few years, it will use Venus for gravity assists to gradually shrink its orbit, eventually flying directly through the Sun's outer atmosphere (the corona). It will face brutal heat and radiation to answer a fundamental mystery: why is the solar corona millions of degrees hotter than the actual surface of the Sun? The data gathered will also be vital for predicting the solar weather that can severely impact our power grids and satellites on Earth.