The Insane Engineering of the Parker Solar Probe

How utterly insane this achievement is. They even did it during the day!

Please don't ever stop the insane engineering series

Kudos to the camera man who had to fly next to the sun to capture this insane achievement!

The fact that you explain the mathematics/science behind(formulas) made me a fan. I’ve been looking for depth, basically, more than regurgitation of articles I’ve already read. Thank you, work is very much appreciated! As a note, a little bit more in depth explanations of the math/formula and orgo/chem would be the ultimate!

The first parts of this didn't sound too crazy compared to some of the other videos you've done, but the longer the video went on, it was like we were descending further into the depths of engineering madness. Astronomy is indeed insane.

The small details that took literal centuries for humanity to discover and perfect to this point is what was mind blowing to me. Niobium wire insulated by sapphire sounds so simple.. yet also sounds like science fiction. I feel like Carbon foam and Niobium C-103 alloy could be the subject of entire Real Engineering videos. How do we even collectively get to that point?

I don't think there is a better way to explain this with non-engineers... I kept up mostly, and learned a number of things! Thanks!

I remember signing up to have my name put on a microchip that would be put on the space probe, wow that was long ago

Something that would also be good to mention that this probe also measured Venus during it's encounters. It even made a map of Venus's surface.

The amount of math needed to get that many gravity assists out of Venus is insane

17:09 They have recently generated more energy than the energy used to start the fusion reaction. It's funny, 10 months ago they probably thought that it would take 50-100 years to achieve that

Guys, thanks for this amazing video... and for releasing it for free! This is far beyond what I ever saw on television, even on the very few remaining channels that place fact above fiction yet.

Could you take a look at the engineering and applications of sodium ion batteries? I’ve been hearing about them for grid storage, but I would love to hear your analysis.

Some clarification of what "temperature" means in different contexts is probably needed. When you say the temperature is "only" 3000ºC at the surface of the sun but over 500000ºC in the corona, a clarification is in order because temperature has a completely different meaning than what most people would expect when talking about mostly empty space. That is, the corona has a "high temperature" but a "low heat content" due to it being mostly empty space - a thermometer placed there would not show hundreds of thousands of degrees. Otherwise the later part of the video, where you mention they use materials like tungsten that have a melting point of 3400ºC would make no sense. In particular, you mention they can get about 3500ºC with the concave mirrors at the Odellio Solar Furnace for testing, and that such temperature is twice what the heat shield is expected to encounter...

They should've gone at dawn when the sun is barely shining, It's colder, so they don't have to worry about the heat.

As an engineer myself, I absolutely love engineering and all that it has to offer. I love how we use our knowledge and problem solving skills to create something useful and beautiful! This “I Love Engineering” channel is a great example of how engineering can be made entertaining, showing some of the best engineering breakthroughs. It also does a great job highlighting the talented engineers that make up the backbone of our society. It really encourages me to learn more about engineering and stay on top of all the new developments out there. Kudos to this channel!

Small nitpick. While Falcon Heavy is the highest payload to orbit currently available, Delta IV Heavy has higher interplanetary payload because of its significantly more efficient upper stage

Hi, great video! A few points to clarify on the fusion side. The ‘able to produce 70% of the input energy’ is a little inaccurate. The plasma produces, in the form of heat, 70% of the power heating it. However, that isn’t 70% of the input electrical power. There are efficiency losses between the electrical power fed to the heating systems and the amount of heating power that actually heats the plasma. Likewise, the power produced is in the form of heat, not electricity, and you need to produce a fair bit more heat to compensate for efficiency losses when producing electricity. ITER will not be hooked up to a system to generate electricity from heat. The next reactor that is planned after ITER is DEMO, which is supposed to produce electricity. The UKs STEP reactor is an electricity producing demonstration device scheduled for completion in 2040. Also, ITER will not really be finished in 2025. That’s the first stage, where they can test when they have assembled so far with realtively low performance plasmas. If all looks good they will continue with assembly. The next (thermal) energy producing ITER operations will use a deuterium-tritium fuel mix and aren’t scheduled until around 2035. Even then, no electricity will be produced. DEMO is being designed currently and won’t be online (assuming it ever gets approved) until at least 2050. Many private fusion companies have popped up over the last decade that aim to have electricity producing demonstrator devices in the early 2030s. The faster pace of private companies is a result of incorporating new technologies that either allow the reactors to be built smaller and hence much more quickly, or have some novel approach. Some such technologies weren't around when ITER was being designed, another drawback to the long time it has taken to construct it. The reason ITER is taking so long is, among many other factors, due to its immense size. When it comes to tokamak fusion reactors, building bigger does move you toward more fusion relevant conditions in your plasma, but at the cost of the devices taking longer to be built. New technologies have emerged since ITER started construction, which enable the magnetic field strength of the fusion reactor to be much larger. This also moves the reactor toward more fusion relevant conditions, without having to make it enormously large. Hence you can build such devices much quicker. Hope this was informative! Great video as always.

btw I always find it interesting that in all video animations featuring an object close to the sun, the sun always looks like a big red fireball whereas in reality it would be a white orb so bright it drowns out all other light.

Under a year after this upload and we have a successful fusion reaction.