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Just a day after claims Google Earth has snapped the USAF’s 4,600mph hypersonic warplane, NASA has gone one better.

The Parker Solar Probe’s extraordinary speed is almost too big to comprehend.

London to New York City in 28 seconds or London to Sydney in just one minute 18 seconds.

Looking further afield, it would take only 30 minutes to reach the moon (considerably quicker than the 61 hours and 56 minutes Neil Armstrong’s Apollo 11 took).

And it would get to the Sun – some 90million miles away – in a little over nine days.

That is the purpose of the remarkable machine.

(Image: NASA)

It is expected to operate for seven years.

The scorching 1377C heat that would be too much for any other object will be nothing for the Parker Probe’s four and a half inch thick carbon-composite heatshield.

In fact, while the sun-facing side blisters in the heat, the electronics inside will be able to operate at room temperature.

The probe – about the size of a Mini – is hoped to analyse in detail the dangers of solar wind which can cause havoc for technology.

In extreme circumstances, these winds can flip planetary magnetic systems – meaning Earth would have no protection from the searing heat of the Sun.

A spokesman for NASA said: “We don't do this just for the basic science. One recent study by the National Academy of Sciences estimated that without advance warning a huge solar event could cause two trillion dollars in damage in the US alone, and the eastern seaboard of the US could be without power for a year.

“In order to unlock the mysteries of the corona, but also to protect a society that is increasingly dependent on technology from the threats of space weather, we will send the Parker Solar Probe to touch the sun.”