It promises to be a remarkable moment in the history of space exploration.

A year from now, on 24 December, Nasa's Parker Solar Probe will race past the Sun at the astonishing speed of 195 km/s, or 435,000 mph.

No human-made object will have moved so fast nor, indeed, got so close to our star - just 6.1 million km, or 3.8 million miles from the Sun's "surface".

"We are basically almost landing on a star," said Parker project scientist Dr Nour Raouafi.

"This will be a monumental achievement for all humanity. This is equivalent to the Moon landing of 1969," the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory scientist told BBC News.

Parker's speed will come from the immense gravitational pull it feels as it falls towards the Sun. It will be akin to flying from New York to London in under 30 seconds.