In December 2024 NASA's Parker Solar Probe flew into the Sun's atmosphere at 430,000 mph — the fastest object ever built — through a region millions of degrees hot, surviving because a 4.5-inch carbon shield held everything behind it at roughly room temperature.
It has been almost eight years since launch, and NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is still one of the most ambitious space missions ever undertaken.
The remarkable spacecraft even returned to the headlines again this year when it completed another close pas... [4840 chars]