Parker Solar Probe team receives Collier Trophy for record-breaking solar encounter

The Parker Solar Probe science and engineering team, a collaboration of scientists from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), NASA, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), and more than 40 other partner organizations, received the 2024 Robert J. Collier Trophy, awarded by the National Aeronautic Association (NAA), on June 12.

This annual award recognizes the most exceptional achievement in aeronautics and astronautics in America with respect to improving the performance, efficiency, and safety of air or space vehicles in the previous year.

NRL led the development of the Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe (WISPR), the sole imaging instrument aboard the Parker Solar Probe. WISPR is joined by three other Parker instruments that probe the near-sun environment locally. Operated by Johns Hopkins APL, WISPR records visible-light images of the solar corona and solar outflow in two overlapping cameras that together observe more than 100-degrees in angular width from the sun. This NASA mission travels closer to the sun than any other mission.

"I'm really proud of the Parker Solar Probe mission and the team," said Mark Linton, Ph.D., WISPR Principal Investigator and head of NRL's Heliophysics Theory and Modeling Section. "This mission has provided great imagery and other ground-breaking data since launch in 2018 up through December when it made its closest approach to the sun."

On Dec. 24, 2024, Parker Solar Probe made its closest approach to the sun, venturing within the sun's corona, just 3.8 million miles above the sun's surface and at a top speed of close to 430,000 mph, pioneering a new era of scientific discovery and space exploration.

It has taken the team almost seven years, since the project launched on August 12, 2018, to accomplish this feat and Parker Solar Probe is the first human made object to get this close to the sun.

Linton explained that the probe travels in orbit from the sun's atmosphere out to close to the orbit of Venus, which is about 70% of the distance from the sun to Earth. After it reaches this distance, the probe continues its orbit back in towards the sun's atmosphere. The entire orbit takes approximately three months to complete.

"The Parker Solar Probe's goal is to study the atmosphere of the sun, which it does by getting very close to it," Linton said.

The Parker Solar Probe is providing images and critical data on the origin and evolution of the solar wind that helps understand and forecast space weather that affects life and technology on Earth.

"The science behind the mission aims to understand how the solar wind is accelerated and heated, and what the plasma characteristics are close to the sun," Linton said. "WISPR provides great visual imagery for context of what Parker Solar Probe is flying through and for advancing our understanding of the dynamic solar atmosphere and heliosphere."

The NRL developed instrument provides images of the solar corona and inner heliosphere by observing visible light scattered by electrons in the solar wind. A series of linear baffles block the bright sunlight to enable imaging of the very faint coronal structures.

WISPR offers scientists insight into what Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) and reconnection outflows look like close to the sun. The instrument delivers still images and video of what the atmosphere and solar wind look like nearest to the sun. Understanding CMEs, solar wind, and their magnetic and electric fields is integral to our understanding of space weather, which can affect us here on Earth.

NRL is the WISPR principal investigator institution for NASA and leads a consortium of national and international science partners. NRL's Space Science Division developed the WISPR instrument and delivered it to NASA in May of 2017.

First awarded in 1911, the Robert J. Collier Trophy winner is selected by a group of aviation leaders chosen by the NAA. The Collier Trophy is housed in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington.

Parker Solar Probe was developed as part of NASA's Living With a Star program to explore aspects of the Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. The program is managed by the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Johns Hopkins APL designed, built, and operates the spacecraft and manages the mission for NASA.

Provided by Naval Research Laboratory