At its launch, the Parker Solar probe surpassed all prior records of speed. And it will continue to break its own record over the 7 years after 7 consecutive encounters with Venus that will lower its trajectory to 9.86 Solar Radii<p>While a lot of it will be eventually achieved due to orbital mechanics, most of the push was given to it by the Delta IV Heavy. For those who may not be familiar, the launches are always spectacular due to the pre-flushing of Hydrogen through the system. NASA has an HD video that you can download, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlyuSwRSVHU" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlyuSwRSVHU</a><p>The PSP's speed is impressive without context, but it's even more impressive <i>in context</i>. Here are phenomena in the same range as the PSP.<p>The Earth rotates around the sun at a speed of,<p><pre><code> 29,800 m/s or 0.01% the speed of light
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Our galaxy approaches the Messier 98 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_98" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_98</a> galaxy at a speed of,<p><pre><code> 140,000 m/s or 0.04% the speed of light.
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PSP is faster than both of these at,<p><pre><code> 163,000 m/s or 0.05% the speed of light.
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Due to the quirks of orbital mechanics, by the end of its life, the probe will be even faster and it will reach,<p><pre><code> 192,000 m/s or 0.06% the speed of light
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It's 8,000 m/s shy of our solar system's orbital velocity around the galactic center.<p>The design is a stunning accomplishment of engineering and daring. If you would like a detailed overview of how the mission trajectory was designed, the navigation team has written an excellent explainer that you can read here, <a href="https://trs.jpl.nasa.gov/handle/2014/47575" rel="nofollow">https://trs.jpl.nasa.gov/handle/2014/47575</a>
<i>"Reaching the sun is, remarkably, more difficult than reaching the outer planets, or leaving the solar system altogether."</i><p>A fact that I independently stumbled upon in Kerbal Space Program when I was trying to fly my Kerbals directly into the Sun. It was surprisingly difficult (<i>still haven't achieved it - no spoilers please!</i>), but obvious after a few moments thought.
I don't know much about celestial mechanics, but Newtonian conservation of energy should mean that not only did we 'boop the Sun', but we also pushed the Sun a tiny, tiny, <i>tiny</i> bit away from where it was. I wonder if that would be measurable.
I just read and watched a video about the Parker Solar probe (very cool) thanks to The Orbital Index email newsletter: <a href="https://orbitalindex.com/" rel="nofollow">https://orbitalindex.com/</a><p>I am not affiliated, but enjoy very much getting my weekly space news!