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Despite the sun being difficult to explore to due its extreme conditions, there have been many successful missions sent to learn more about how the sun works and how it impacts us.
The Ulysses Probe
The Ulysses Probe
The Ulysses probe was a collaboration between NASA and ESA, and revealed that solar winds are weakening over time, magnetic poles are weaker than predicted, and confirmed that magnetic poles reverse every 11 years. However, we still do not know why they are weakening over time
Genesis
Genesis
NASA's Genesis spacecraft returned samples of the solar wind to Earth for study. These samples helped explain the creation of Earth, however these samples were contaminated during the crash landing of Genesis when it reentered. These samples show evidence that Earth may have formed from a different nebula cloud than the nebula that created the sun.
STEREO
STEREO
The Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) mission gained 360 degree imaging of the sun. This mission allows us to better understand the sun’s behavior, and allows us to see the structure and evolution of solar storms as they blast from the Sun and move out through space.
SDO
SDO
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) studies how the sun impacts the Earth specifically. This projects mainly focuses on the sun’s atmosphere to study how the magnetic field of the sun moves through the heliosphere and impacts the Earth.
The Parker Solar Probe
The Parker Solar Probe
The Parker Solar Probe can orbit within 4 million miles of the sun. While it was designed to get this close to the sun, it has not yet gotten closer than about 11 million miles. This probe studies the formation of solar winds and the corona and how it is that solar winds travel so fast from the corona.
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