Solar Probe Plus is a spacecraft launched by NASA to study the Sun. It is designed to fly close to the Sun, making it the first mission of its kind. The spacecraft will provide new data on solar activity and make important contributions to our understanding of how stars work.
Solar Probe Plus will launch in 2018 and will travel closer to the Sun than any other man-made object in history. The spacecraft will orbit the Sun 24 times, dipping as close as 3.8 million miles from the Sun’s surface. Along the way, it will gather data about the solar wind and the environment around the Sun.
The Solar Probe Plus mission is part of NASA’s Living with a Star program, which is dedicated to understanding how our changing Sun affects life here on Earth. Solar Probe Plus will help us answer important questions about our place in space and improve our ability to forecast major space weather events that impact life on Earth, such as geomagnetic storms.
Data gathered by Solar Probe Plus will also be used to develop new technologies for protecting spacecraft and astronauts from extreme solar conditions near Earth and beyond.