NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is making headlines once again as it continues its incredible journey towards the sun. Since 2021, this record-breaking spacecraft has been orbiting the sun, coming closer than ever before to capture unprecedented data about our home star.
In June, the Parker Solar Probe completed its closest approach to the sun yet, reaching a distance of just 5.3 million miles from the solar surface. Achieving these milestones wouldn’t be possible without the help of Venus, which has been a crucial partner for the probe.
On August 21, Parker is set to make its sixth and closest flyby of Venus. Thanks to some precise maneuvering on August 3, the probe will use Venus’ gravity to tighten its orbit around the sun. This technique has been employed repeatedly throughout Parker’s mission, which began in 2018. If all goes well with this flyby, Parker will come within approximately 4.5 million miles of the sun’s surface on September 27.
But the story doesn’t end there. NASA has one more Venus flyby planned after this one, which aims to bring Parker even closer to the sun at a distance of just 3.9 million miles. To put it into perspective, Earth sits at a distance of about 93 million miles from the sun. So, it’s safe to say that Parker is about to get exceptionally close.
To achieve these flybys, Parker underwent some maneuvering adjustments. The spacecraft fired its small thrusters for 4.5 seconds, allowing it to adjust its trajectory by 77 miles and increase its speed by 1.4 seconds while heading towards Venus. These adjustments may seem small, considering the probe’s high speeds in the inner solar system, but they are crucial for the desired gravity assist at Venus.
During the upcoming solar approach in September, Parker will reach a new speed record of 394,742 mph, breaking the previous record for spacecraft. At its closest approach ever, it is expected to reach a staggering velocity of about 430,000 mph – a speed that could take you from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. in just one second.
The mission design and navigation manager at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland, Yanping Guo, emphasized the significance of these maneuvers, stating that although the adjustments may seem insignificant in terms of speed, they are critical in getting the desired gravity assist at Venus, which will significantly alter Parker’s speed and distance from the sun.
Since its launch in 2018, Parker has been aptly labeled as the probe that will “touch the sun,” and it has indeed lived up to its name. In 2021, the spacecraft flew through the sun’s upper atmosphere, known as the corona, officially becoming the first man-made object to “touch the sun.”
The valuable data collected by Parker will provide scientists with insights into numerous mysteries surrounding the sun. One of the main questions that researchers hope to answer is why the corona is much hotter than the surface – a peculiar conundrum. Additionally, Parker’s observations will help unravel the complexities of the solar wind, a stream of charged particles emitted by the sun. And who knows, perhaps this mission will shed light on other enigmas that we aren’t even aware of yet.
Recent discoveries have shown that the sun emits the highest-energy radiation ever recorded, suggesting that we still have much to learn about this fascinating star. With the Parker Solar Probe’s ongoing mission, we are one step closer to unraveling the secrets of our sun and the vast universe it inhabits.