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

The Parker solar probe launched by NASA became the fastest man-made object with a speed of 635,266 kilometres per hour. It broke its own record of 586,000 kilometres per hour in 2021. To understand its speed, imagine an airplane circling the Earth 15 times within one hour.

The Parker Solar Probe is a spacecraft that was launched by NASA in August 2018 to study the outermost layer of the sun’s atmosphere called Corona. In 2021, NASA announced that it had flown through the Corona, making it the first spacecraft to do so. Through the data collected by the probe, scientists will be able to tell the Sun’s impact on the Earth. The space probe is named after the late scientist Dr. Eugene N. Parker, who first discovered the solar winds. 

The Space Probe is supposed to make a total of 24 orbits around the Sun by 2025. It is currently on its 17th orbit and is the first spacecraft to be so close to the Sun. At its closest, it will be within about 3.8 million miles of the Sun. With seven orbits left, scientists believe it will break its record again in the future.