NASA sets world record for fastest human-made object ever built

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When you think fast, you typically think of sports cars or the speed of a bullet, but do you ever think about satellites, or more specifically, space probes?

The question as to what is the fastest human-made object can answered by understanding the incredible speed of NASA's Parker Solar Probe, a space probe sent to the Sun to relay data back to Earth about its intense environment and activity. The goal of the Parker Solar Probe is to provide researchers with more information on the evolution of our local star, and since it has been orbiting the Sun, it has been providing vital information about its habits and 11-year cycle.

Parker Solar Probe's Wide Field Imagery for Solar Probe (WISPR) camera passing through a CME

The Parker Solar Probe already set the record for the fastest human-made object, and on June 29, the solar probe shattered its previous record with a top speed of 394,736 mph, which is 500 times faster than the speed of sound. It's estimated the Parker Solar Probe will reach a top speed of 430,000 mph before its mission operations come to an end.

Over the past six years, the Parker Solar Probe has completed twenty close flybys of the Sun during its six years of being in service. During that time, it passed through a coronal magnetic ejection or a Sun burp. Read more about that story below.

• Read more: NASA achieves world's first observation from within a Sun burp