The Parker Solar Probe (abbreviated PSP ; previously Solar Probe , Solar Probe Plus or Solar Probe+ ) is a Nasa space probe launched in 2018 with the mission of making observations of the outer corona of the Sun. It will approach to within 9.86 solar radii (6.9 million km or 4.3 million miles) from the center of the Sun, and by 2025 will travel, at closest approach, as fast as 690,000 km/h (430,000 mph), or 0.064% the speed of light . The project was announced in the fiscal 2009 budget year. The cost of the project is US$1.5 billion. John Hopkins University applied physics laboratory designed and built the spacecraft, which was launched on 12 August 2018.It became the first NASA spacecraft named after a living person, honoring nonagenarian physicist Eugene Newman parker , professor emeritus at the University of Chicago A memory ...