“Touching the Sun” seems to herald the immediate destruction of a spacecraft. However, NASA uses this expression for a step reached by Parker Solar Probe: on April 28, 2021, the probe entered the crown, the external atmosphere of our star.
The instruments recorded magnetic conditions and particles indicating that it had crossed an essential boundary. In this region, the fields of the Sun still dominate the movement of matter. Further on, this material can reach the solar wind.
There was no landing: the Sun does not have a solid ground comparable to that of the Earth. The probe passed through a region of its atmosphere, then came out. During the meeting, she even crossed this limit several times.
The boundary crossed was not perfectly spherical. “Touching the Sun” here means measuring its atmosphere on the spot, without contact with a ground.
What we know
Crossing the atmosphere, no contact with soil; date of first passage: April 28, 2021.
To go to the source
References accessed October 11, 2026. Linked pages may be in another language.
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