How close can we actually get to the Sun?

Explore the challenges of Parker Solar Probe’s mission to touch the Sun, and what we could learn about the star as we get closer.

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In 2021, the Parker Solar Probe achieved its mission to touch the Sun, skimming through its outermost atmosphere. Since then, it’s carved closer and closer paths, but probing deeper into the corona— without melting, exploding, or falling into the Sun— is a monumental engineering challenge. Is it possible? Explore the obstacles of the mission and how it could unlock the mysteries of our star.

Directed by Igor Ćorić, Artrake Studio.

A special thanks to Doug Willard and Christina Cohen who provided information and insights for the development of this video.

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View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-close-can-we-actually-get-to-the-sun

Dig deeper with additional resources: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-close-can-we-actually-get-to-the-sun/digdeeper

Animator's website: https://www.artrake.com

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Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Nicole Klau Ibarra, Jesse Lira, Ezekiel Raui, Petr Vacek, Dennis, Olivia Fu, Kari Teffeau, Cindy Lai, Rajath Durgada Manjunath, Dan Nguyen, Chin Beng Tan, Tom Boman, Karen Warner, Iryna Panasiuk, Aaron Torres, Eric Braun, Sonja Worzewski, Michael Clement, Adam Berry, Ghaith Tarawneh, Nathan Milford, Tomas Beckett, Alice Ice, Eric Berman, Kurt Paolo Sevillano, Jennifer Heald, Megulo Abebe, isolwi, Kate Sem, Ujjwal Dasu, Angel Alberici, Minh Quan Dinh, Sylvain, Terran Gimpel, Talia Sari, Katie McDowell, Allen, Mahina Knuckles, Charmaine Hanson, Thawsitt, Jezabel, Abdullah Abdulaziz, Xiao Yu, Melissa Suarez, Brian A. Dunn, Francisco Amaya, Daisuke Goto, Matt Switzler, Peng, Tzu-Hsiang, and Bethany Connor.