NASA's Parker Solar Probe clocks speed enough to reach Kashmir to Kanyakumari in 19 seconds — Details

The Parker Solar Probe of NASA, which became the first spacecraft to fly through the corona — the Sun's upper atmosphere — has just created a new record. Making history, the NASA Spacecraft checked in with flight controllers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, on September 18.

In its latest encounter with the sun's atmosphere, which was between September 10 and 20, Parker clocked a speed of 6,87,000 kilometers per hour, matching its own record for the fourth time.

Designed and built at APL, the NASA spacecraft sent Johns Hopkins a beacon code that its systems were functioning normally even after an autonomous manoeuvre through the Sun’s atmosphere.

It is during this time Parker made the world record for the fourth time. Earlier, it had reached this extreme speed during close approaches. These were on December 24, 2024, March 22, 2025, and June 19, 2025.

At this bolting speed, Parker could travel from Kashmir to Kanyakumari in just a matter of 19 seconds.

What is the Parker Solar Probe?

The Parker Solar Probe was launched in 2018 with a mission to understand the Sun.

Parker will fly more than seven times closer to the Sun than any spacecraft.

The spacecraft is gradually orbiting closer to the Sun’s surface than any before it.

The maximum speed that Parker can gain is 7,00,000 kilometres per hour. “That's fast enough to get from Philadelphia to Washington, DC, in one second,” NASA said.

Parker has still revolving around the Sun in its unique orbit, with NASA reviewing its future mission milestones beyond 2026.

During this solar encounter, Parker’s four scientific instrument packages are gathering unique observations from inside the Sun’s atmosphere, or corona. The solar mission will begin returning science data from the encounter on September 23, NASA said.

Parker Solar Probe was developed as a part of NASA’s Living With a Star (LWS) program to explore aspects of the Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. The LWS program is managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland

“Parker’s observations of the solar wind and solar events, such as flares and coronal mass ejections, are critical to advancing humankind’s understanding of the Sun,” NASA said in a blog.