So effective is the heat shield that the probe's internal instruments remain near room temperature — around 29 C (85 F) — as it explores the sun's outer atmosphere, called the corona.

Mission operators at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Maryland reported that they had last established contact with the probe on December 21 ... spacecraft and it is designed to ...

NASA expects Parker to peek out from behind the Sun on Friday, at which time it will be able to reestablish contact with ... is so effective that the probe's internal temperature barely gets ...