The greatest missions to the sun of all time

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Parker Solar Probe (2018-present)

Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben/NASA

Parker Solar Probe launched in August 2018 to get closer to the sun than ever before. It will "touch" material from the corona, zooming in as close as 3.8 million miles (6.1 million kilometers) to the sun's photosphere, according to NASA. Over seven years, the spacecraft will make flybys of Venus to pull its orbit ever closer to the sun, providing an unprecedented close-up look at the corona and the origins of the solar wind.

Solar Orbiter (2020-present)

ESA

Solar Orbiter is an ESA-led mission to examine how the sun generates the heliosphere, as well as the solar wind, energetic particles and other emissions from the sun. The mission launched in 2020. "Being close to the Sun allows for observations of solar surface features and their connection to the heliosphere for much longer periods than from near-Earth vantage points. The view of the solar poles will help us to understand how dynamo processes generate the sun's magnetic field," ESA stated.

Related: Read more about Solar Orbiter

Elizabeth Howell
Elizabeth Howell
Contributing Writer

Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., was a staff writer in the spaceflight channel between 2022 and 2024 specializing in Canadian space news. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years from 2012 to 2024. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House, leading world coverage about a lost-and-found space tomato on the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, "Why Am I Taller?" (ECW Press, 2022) is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams.