NASA’s solar probe becomes the fastest man-made object

The Parker Solar Probe is a spacecraft that was launched by NASA in August 2018 to study the outermost layer of the sun. In September 2023, it became the fastest man-made object with a speed of 635266 kilometres per hour. To understand its speed, imagine an airplane circling the Earth 15 times within one hour. 

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA launched this spacecraft to study the effect of the sun on the Earth. In 2021, NASA announced that it had flown through the outermost layer of the sun, making it the first spacecraft to do so. The space probe is named after the late scientist Dr. Eugene N. Parker, who first discovered the solar winds. 

The Space Probe is on its 17th orbit around the Sun, and it’s expected to complete a total of 24 orbits by 2025. It will get as close as about 3.8 million miles to the Sun during one of its orbits. With seven more orbits to go, it’s likely to set a new record for speed in the future.