Mondo Knows Facts
The Parker Solar Probe is the fastest human-made object ever built
Speeds exceeding 600,000 kilometres per hour carry the probe near the Sun
NASA's Parker Solar Probe uses repeated gravitational slingshots past Venus to dive deep into the Sun's outer atmosphere. Reaching orbital speeds over 635,000 kilometres per hour, it travels fast enough to fly from London to New York in under two seconds while withstanding extreme heat shields.
Where this comes from
Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.
Go further
More facts like this
Total solar eclipses are possible due to a cosmic geometric coincidenceThe Sun is 400 times wider than the Moon but also 400 times further awayThe Sun outer corona is hundreds of times hotter than its surfaceWhile the solar surface sits at 5,500 degrees C the corona reaches millionsThe Sun flips its magnetic field poles every eleven yearsSolar maximum brings high sunspot numbers solar flares and energetic aurorasThe Sun core converts 600 million tonnes of hydrogen every secondThermonuclear fusion transforms hydrogen nuclei into helium and energyThe Sun holds nearly all the mass in the solar systemOver 99 percent of all matter in the solar system resides inside the SunA single solar flare releases millions of hydrogen bombs worth of energyMagnetic field reconnection on the Sun releases huge bursts of radiation
Tags: parker probe, sun, speed
The Parker Solar Probe is the fastest human-made object ever built: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Speeds exceeding 600,000 kilometres per hour carry the probe near the Sun. The figure is taken from NASA Science, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a space fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Space shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.
