NASA has just launched its mission to send a satellite closer to the sun than any before.

The ‘Parker Solar Probe’, which lifted off yesterday on the Delta IV rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida, will dip directly into our star’s outer atmosphere, or corona coming closer to then sun than any man-made object before it.

The probe will be the fastest man-made object ever, travelling at speeds of up to 430,000mph.

In order to ensure the automated and unmanned probe does not melt in the extreme heat and radiation, scientists have devised a revolutionary carbon heat shield to protect it. Sensors will ensure the heat shield faces the sun at the correct time and will adjust the shield to maintain its position.

The $1.5 billion project is intended to improve scientists understanding of solar wind and geogmagnetic storms that could cause havoc on Earth by knocking out satellites, power grids and our communication networks.

With experts estimating the time taken to recover from this at a decade and cost of this at two trillion dollars in the first year alone, this is an area we need to urgently expand our understanding of.

The Parker Solar probe is the most significant project involved with understanding this risk, a lot could end up riding on its success.