The Insane Engineering of the Parker Solar Probe

For the first time in human history, a spacecraft has flown through the atmosphere of the Sun , sweeping through the Super heated particles of the corona.

A momentous event that has provided scientists vital information on the nature of our closest star that may help us unlock its mysteries.

To understand the achievement of the Parker Solar Probe is actually reaching the sun.

The Parker Solar Probe completed an astounding 5 gravity assists by Venus , with an additional 2 flybys due in 2023 and 2024 .

This number of flybys was needed because Venus is a relatively low mass planet.

The original plan for the probe was to do a single planetary cyst by Jupiter , which would have brought the probe 3 times closer to the Sun .

The new Venus plan would mean the probe would take less than 150 days to complete its orbit around the Sun , allowing scientists to gather over 900 hours worth of data over the probes 24 orbits.

The heat of the sun would destroy the solar panels, and at this size they could not retract and hide behind the sunshield.

The Parker space probe was built out of an alloy of 89% niobium C1O3A special alloy.

All the external casing components were also constructed from this exotic aerospace material.