Venus flyby sends Parker Solar Probe toward record-setting flights around the sun

NASA’s Parker Photo voltaic Probe zoomed previous Venus on Aug. 21, utilizing the planet’s gravity to intention towards a record-setting collection of flights across the sun that begin subsequent month.

At simply earlier than 8:03 a.m. EDT, transferring roughly 15 miles (greater than 24 kilometers) per second, Parker Photo voltaic Probe handed 2,487 miles (4,003 kilometers) above the Venusian floor because it curved across the planet towards the internal solar system. The mission operations workforce on the Johns Hopkins Utilized Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, stored involved with the spacecraft through the flyby by means of NASA’s Deep Area Community—apart from an anticipated 8 minutes at closest method, when Venus was between Earth and Parker—and decided the spacecraft was on the right track and working usually.

“Parker Photo voltaic Probe stays on observe to make its closest flybys but of the sun,” stated Nick Pinkine, Parker Photo voltaic Probe mission operations supervisor from APL. “Parker’s success is a tribute to all the mission workforce, however I am particularly happy with the mission operators and the job they’ve accomplished over the previous 5 years to make sure the flawless operation of this unbelievable, history-making spacecraft.”

Venus gravity assists are important to guiding Parker Photo voltaic Probe progressively nearer to the sun; the spacecraft depends on the planet to cut back its orbital power, which in flip permits it to journey nearer to the sun—the place, since 2018, it has been exploring the origins and unlocking the secrets and techniques of the solar wind and different properties of the near-sun setting at their supply.

This was the Parker mission‘s sixth of seven deliberate Venus gravity assists. This week’s flyby served as an orbit maneuver making use of a velocity change—referred to as “delta-V”—on Parker Photo voltaic Probe, decreasing its orbital pace by about 5,932 miles per hour (9,547 kilometers per hour). The maneuver modified the spacecraft’s orbit and set Parker Photo voltaic Probe up for its subsequent 5 shut passes by the sun, the primary of which happens on Sept. 27. On every shut method (referred to as perihelion), Parker Photo voltaic Probe will set or match its personal pace and distance data on the subject of inside simply 4.5 million miles (7.3 million kilometers) from the solar floor, whereas transferring near 394,800 miles per hour.