Talk:Parker Solar Probe

What is the white coating on the sun side of the heat shield

Some diagrams say "white ceramic coating" (rather vague), NASA website says it is a spray on reflective coating. Would be nice to find a source that says what materials (specific oxides ?), and roughly how thick. - Rod57 (talk) 11:31, 4 August 2024 (UTC)

"Fastest man-made object" listed at Redirects for discussion

The redirect Fastest man-made object has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2024 December 22 § Fastest man-made object until a consensus is reached. User:Someone-123-321 (I contribute, Talk page so SineBot will shut up) 04:24, 22 December 2024 (UTC)

Speed relative to what?

Shouldn't the speed of the probe be expressed relative to something? I assume it's relative to Earth, but I couldn't confirm this in any of the referenced sources. -- 67.160.11.47 (talk) 03:52, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

It's relative to the Sun. We should probably say this, but to my surprise I couldn't find a source saying it in so many words. Dan Bloch (talk) 19:31, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

@Danbloch: It is mentioned in , which is already referenced in the title of the table in Parker Solar Probe#Timeline. Also, the CSV file (generated using the Horizons System, which is also referenced in the title of the table) that was used to make File:Velocity of Parker Solar Probe wide.svg indicates that the values used are relative to the Sun center. CoronalMassAffection (talk) 23:23, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

 Done. See dif. I specified in the body that these speeds are given in the heliocentric ecliptic reference frame (as specified in the CSV file) since "relative to the Sun" could be interpreted as a frame rotating with the Sun. CoronalMassAffection (talk) 00:39, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

Outdated main photo

The main photo on the wikipedia page isn't correct - it's showing a model with the voltage probes pointing away from the heat shield while PSP actually has the four voltage probes arranged orthogonally in the plane of the heat shield. I think this is a visualisation of a model from before the antenna configuration was finalised. Is there a more accurate visualisation that could be used instead? SpaceHG (talk) 16:17, 9 September 2025 (UTC)

Table - distances have both million km and scientific notation

I'm not smart enough to fix this, but the table shows both million km and X *10^6. The style guide says that million km is preferable, so is there a way to fix the calculation to remove the 10^6? ~2026-35316-49 (talk) 10:35, 16 June 2026 (UTC)

The distances were all in km, which I clarified in the table. If that doesn't solve your issue, can you be more specific about what the problem is? Also what part of the style guide you're referring to. Danbloch (talk) 04:44, 18 June 2026 (UTC)