Parker Solar Probe Hits 430,000 mph at 3.8 Million Miles From Sun

3 articles · Updated · spacedaily.com · Jul 4

430,000 mph was reached during Parker Solar Probe’s Dec. 24, 2024 perihelion, when it passed just 3.8 million miles above the Sun’s surface and set a record for the fastest human-made object.
Seven Venus flybys over nearly seven years made that speed possible by stripping away orbital energy and tightening Parker’s solar path, allowing the Sun’s gravity to accelerate it sharply at closest approach.
24 planned orbits were designed to bring Parker inward in stages rather than through one giant engine burn; the spacecraft instead relied on launch energy, small course corrections and repeated gravity assists.
A 4.5-inch carbon-composite heat shield protects the probe during brief dives through the corona, and NASA said a beacon received on Dec. 26 confirmed it remained healthy after the record-setting pass.
The mission, launched in 2018, is gathering near-Sun data on coronal heating, the solar wind and energetic particles—measurements that could improve forecasts of space weather affecting satellites, astronauts and communications.