Stockton, CA – July 8, 2025 – Applied is honored to be recognized as a contributing partner to NASA’s Parker Solar Probe mission, which has been awarded the prestigious 2024 Robert J. Collier Trophy by the National Aeronautic Association (NAA). Applied Aerospace was part of a team of companies that developed the record setting scientific spacecraft that is significantly improving our understanding of the Sun. Applied manufactured a critical system, the High Gain Antenna, developed in close collaboration with the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) of Johns Hopkins University. This precision-built system enables high-speed data transmission between the spacecraft and Earth, even under the extreme thermal and radiation conditions near the Sun.
The Parker Solar Probe (PSP) launched in 2018 to begin its seven year mission, which includes 24 close orbits of the Sun. Travelling at a speed of over 430,000 miles per hour, PSP is the fastest human-made object. As the closet artificial object to approach the Sun, the PSP orbit came within 3.8 million miles of the surface in December of 2024, besting the previous proximity record set by Helios 2 back in 1976 by nearly 20 million miles. The PSP is fitted with a variety of instrumentation to study electro-magnetic fields, measure atomic particles, and collect optical images of the corona and heliosphere. The spacecraft is named in honor of physicist Eugene Newman Parker, professor emeritus at University of Chicago.
Each year the National Aeronautic Association (NAA), recognizes the “greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, with respect to improving the performance, efficiency, and safety of air or space vehicles, the value of which has been thoroughly demonstrated by actual use during the preceding year.” The Collier Trophy is considered by many to be the most prestigious award in aerospace.
“This recognition is a testament to the exceptional collaboration across the industry and the advanced engineering required to make a mission of this magnitude possible,” said Patrick Hart, Vice President of Business Development & Engineering for Applied. “We are honored to have played a role in a program that is rewriting our understanding of the Sun and its effects on the solar system.”
Formerly Applied Aerospace Structures Corporation (AASC), now a business unit of Applied Aerospace & Defense.
