system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
How close could a machine get to the Sun?

I was reading about the Parker probe and it's amazing just how close that thing is going to get to the sun; but it of course made me wonder how much closer we could get. The Parker probe basically uses a big oriented shield to protect itself, and behind the shield it's more a normal spacecraft.

Is it conceivable that anything could be constructed that could survive passing through the corona? It seems stuff must be whipping around like crazy in there, plus the insane temperatures. To my knowledge the highest known melting points are in the thousands of degrees, but I figure there is also some kind of blast force or something going on there.

*Edit* and if the corona is so easy, can you conceive of a spacecraft passing through the *photosphere* and surviving?

Not that it is possible with any known technology, but is it even physically conceivable that something could survive a close approach towards the surface of the sun? What would be necessary (special materials? some kind of super-magnet?)?

*edit 2*
Thanks all for the entertaining and informative comments! I will let you all know when my machine is completed and ready for launch.
gpt
If you have a good heat shield and heat transported to the back of your spacecraft, you can essentially get to the point where friction is a problem. Typically these spacecrafts are in a very elliptic orbit so they are are only very close for hours at a time. Tungsten alloys or some high melting point ceramics will do.