NASA and other international space agencies monitor the Sun 24/7 with a fleet of solar observatories, studying everything from the Sun’s atmosphere to its surface.
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is studying our star from closer than any other spacecraft. On Dec. 14, 2021, NASA announced that Parker had flown through the Sun’s upper atmosphere – the corona – and sampled particles and magnetic fields there. This marked the first time in history that a spacecraft had touched the Sun. Parker Solar Probe is designed to swoop within about 4 million miles (6.5 million kilometers) of the Sun's surface to trace the flow of energy, to study the heating of the solar corona, and to explore what accelerates the solar wind.
Solar Orbiter – launched Feb. 9, 2020 – is a joint mission between ESA (the European Space Agency) and NASA to collect data that will help answer a central question of heliophysics: How does the Sun create and control the constantly changing space environment throughout the solar system?
Other active spacecraft monitoring the Sun include SOHO, ACE, IRIS, WIND, Hinode, the Solar Dynamics Observatory, and STEREO.
Notable ExplorersNotable Explorers
Astronauts pave the way for human exploration beyond our Earth. They are pilots, scientists, engineers, teachers, and more. Project managers guide missions from concept to completion, working closely with team members to accomplish what they set out to do. A camera payload uplink lead writes software commands that tell a rover what pictures to take. Melding science with design, artists create everything from large-scale installations to the NASA posters hanging in your bedroom. Media specialists tells stories across social media and help feature missions and people on TV and in films, books, magazines, and news sites. Writers/producers capture the incredible stories of NASA's missions and people and share them with the world. Administrators and directors work out of NASA headquarters, prioritizing science questions and seeking to expand the frontiers of discovery. Whether it's introducing kids to space or teaching physics to PhD candidates, educators help share their knowledge with the public. Engineers design and build all types of machines, from what a spacecraft looks like to the software that directs where a rover goes each day. From an astrophysicist to a volcanologist, scientists of all types pose questions and help find answers to the mysteries of our universe.
10 Careers That Explore Space
Astronaut
Project Manager
Rover Camera Operator
Artist
Media Specialist
Writer/Producer
Administrator/Director
Educator
Engineer
Scientist