Unlocking the Sun: Inside NASA and ESA’s Daring Missions to Touch the Solar Inferno
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe became the first spacecraft to fly through the Sun’s corona in April 2021, crossing the Alfvén critical boundary at about 4 million miles from the Sun. The probe travels over 430,000 mph, protected by a carbon-composite heat shield, and has detected magnetic switchbacks and a dust-free zone near the Sun. Solar Orbiter, launched in 2020, will image the Sun’s poles and carries ten instruments for solar observation.