12 August 2018
Parker Solar Probe was launched and spent its first week in orbit establishing its high-gain antenna, magnetometer boom, and electric field antennas.
9 September 2018
Instrument activation and testing began in early September 2018 and the two WISPR telescopic cameras successfully completed a first-light test, transmitting wide-angle images of the background sky towards the galactic centre
3 October 2018
The probe successfully performed the first of the seven planned Venus flybys. The Parker Solar Probe mission design employs repeated gravity assists at Venus to gradually decrease its orbital perihelion to a final altitude of about 8.5 solar radii above the sun. The spacecraft will make seven Venus flybys over the course of nearly seven years, gradually shrinking its elliptical orbit around the Sun to a total of 24 orbits.
6 November 2018
Parker Solar Probe observed the first magnetic switchbacks, they are the sudden reversals in the solar wind's magnetic field. The NASA-ESA mission Ulysses first observed them, the first spacecraft to fly over the Sun's poles. The solar wind is a stream of charged particles released from the upper atmosphere of the Sun, called the corona. This plasma mostly consists of electrons, protons and alpha particles with kinetic energy between 0.5 and 10 keV.
4 December 2019
The first four research papers describing findings from the spacecraft's first two dives near the Sun were published. They reported the direction and strength of the Sun's magnetic field, as well as the unusually frequent and brief changes in the Sun's magnetic field's direction. These findings support the hypothesis that Alfvén waves are the most promising candidates for understanding the mechanisms underlying the coronal heating problem.
26 December 2019
Parker Solar Probe successfully completed its second flyby of Venus. This gravity assist maneuver adjusted Parker Solar Probe’s trajectory to set it up for its fourth orbit around the Sun.
11 July 2020
Parker Solar Probe is making its way to Venus for its third Venus flyby after its fifth encounter with the Sun. Parker Solar Probe's previous two Venus flybys swooped past the planet's Sun-facing side, and this will be the mission's first pass on Venus' night side.
20 February 2021
NASA's Parker Solar Probe speed up past Venus for the fourth of seven planned Venus gravity assists, paving the way for Parker Solar Probe's eighth and ninth close passes by the Sun in April 2021.
28 April 2021
During its eighth flyby of the Sun, the Parker Solar Probe encountered specific magnetic and particle conditions at 18.8 solar radii, indicating that it had penetrated the Alfvén surface. The probe measured the solar wind plasma environment with its FIELDS and SWEAP instruments. This event was described as "touching the Sun".
16 October 2021
Parker Solar Probe completes its fifth Venus flyby. The flyby reduced Parker Solar Probe’s orbital speed by about 6,040 miles per hour (9,720 kilometers per hour), and set it up for its 10th close pass by the Sun, on November 2021.
6 September 2022
NASA's Parker Solar Probe approaches its 13th perihelion, or close encounter with the Sun, it is heading into a much different solar environment than ever before. The spacecraft has yet to fly through a solar event like a solar flare or a coronal mass ejection (CME) during one of its close encounters, but that may change this coming month. The resulting data would be groundbreaking.
21 August 2023
Expected to complete its 5th Venus flyby.In the following flybys the probe is expected to come even closer to the surface of the sun allowing scientist to collect even more data about the sun and its surroundings.