Author Topic: Delta IV-H - Parker Solar Probe - SLC-37 - Aug 12, 2018  (Read 194320 times)

Offline ChrisGebhardt

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Nicky Fox - PSP Project Scientist

Reviewing launch profile.

6 weeks after launch, will encounter Venus for first time.  Venus used for gravity assist to SLOW PSP down and turn it in toward the Sun.

24 highly elliptical orbits over the 7 year mission of PSP.

Closest approach will be 3.83 million miles to the Sun's surface.

Probe will sit very close to coronal field lines.

PSP will become fastest human-made object during approach -- slowing down significantly as it swings back out toward Venus.

...

Offline ChrisGebhardt

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PSP well protected.

Instruments measure a host of things.

Heat shield will be prime protection of the bulk of the spacecraft from the solar wind.

A couple instruments "brave" the solar atmosphere and stick out beyond the heat shield.

PSP uses innovative new solar arrays/panels that have to be cooled as PSP dives into the corona.

PSP is "most independent spacecraft".  No person in the loop.  If there's an anomaly, PSP will figure out how to fix the issue.

Offline ChrisGebhardt

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PSP is fully encapsulated.

Offline ChrisGebhardt

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PSP will be will be in encounter mode from 0.25AU to closer and then back out.

Think of heat environment like oven.  "Set at 400 degrees F, you can put your hand in the oven and not get burned unless you touch something."

Offline ChrisGebhardt

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7 year mission duration.

$1.5 billion for mission, including Delta VI Heavy.


EOM will put PSP in stable orbit.  Craft could continue gathering date thereafter as long as fuel to maintain attitude is available.

PSP will eventually break apart due to stress.
« Last Edit: 07/20/2018 05:27 pm by ChrisGebhardt »

Offline ChrisGebhardt

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They are using every single lbf of power of the Delta IV Heavy.

Offline ChrisGebhardt

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6th Venus flyby will get some measurements of Venus.  Otherwise, instruments will be off during Venus encounters.

Offline ChrisGebhardt

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If they miss the launch window that closes 19 August (maybe a couple extra days possible).  Would have to adjust thereafter, but they didn't say a timeframe.  May 2019 is the previously known next available window.

Offline ChrisGebhardt

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PSP is automated, yes.  But is will still go into safe if a major issue occurs and needs a human in the loop.

Heat Shield tech is built on previous tech.  Based on RCC wing lead edges panels on Space Shuttle.  Good ideas for how we might do heat shields in future.
« Last Edit: 07/20/2018 05:52 pm by Chris Bergin »

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Was that you, Chris G, that just asked a phone-in question?
Support your local planetarium! (COVID-panic and forward: Now more than ever.) My current avatar is saying "i wants to go uppies!" Yes, there are God-given rights. Do you wish to gainsay the Declaration of Independence?

Offline ChrisGebhardt

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Was that you, Chris G, that just asked a phone-in question?

Indeed.

Offline ChrisGebhardt

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Parker Solar Probe will launch at solar minimum and go to solar maximum. That was not planned, just how the mission prep and solar timelines aligned for 2018 launch window.

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First data back in early December 2018.

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Launch window opens on 6 Aug. is 04:08 EDT (08:08 UTC).

Offline catdlr

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How NASA's Parker Solar Probe Will Survive the Sun

NASA
Published on Jul 20, 2018

NASA's Parker Solar Probe is heading to the Sun.Thermal Protection System Engineer Betsy Congdon (Johns Hopkins APL) outlines why Parker can take the heat. More: https://go.nasa.gov/2O7YKsK | NASA launch schedule: https://go.nasa.gov/2JfklMB

Music credit: Cheeky Chappy [Main Track] by Jimmy Kaleth, Ross Andrew McLean Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Genna Duberstein (USRA): Lead Producer/Lead Editor Rob Andreoli (AIMM): Lead Videographer Betsy Congdon (Johns Hopkins University/APL): Lead Engineer Ryan Fitzgibbons (USRA): Narrator Genna Duberstein (USRA): Writer Steve Gribben (Johns Hopkins University/APL ): Animator Brian Monroe (USRA): Animator Josh Masters (USRA): Animator Michael Lentz (USRA): Animator Genna Duberstein (USRA): Animator Mary P. Hrybyk-Keith (TRAX International Corporation): Illustrator This video is public domain and along with other supporting visualizations can be downloaded from the Scientific Visualization Studio at: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12867



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Offline catdlr

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Parker Solar Probe--Mission Overview


NASA Goddard
Published on Jul 20, 2018

Parker Solar Probe will swoop to within 4 million miles of the sun's surface, facing heat and radiation like no spacecraft before it. Launching in 2018, Parker Solar Probe will provide new data on solar activity and make critical contributions to our ability to forecast major space-weather events that impact life on Earth.

In order to unlock the mysteries of the corona, but also to protect a society that is increasingly dependent on technology from the threats of space weather, NASA will send Parker Solar Probe to touch the Sun.

In 2017, the mission was renamed for Eugene Parker, the S. Chandrasekhar Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago. In the 1950s, Parker proposed a number of concepts about how stars--including our Sun- -give off energy. He called this cascade of energy the solar wind, and he described an entire complex system of plasmas, magnetic fields, and energetic particles that make up this phenomenon. Parker also theorized an explanation for the superheated solar atmosphere, the corona, which is - contrary to what was expected by physics laws -- hotter than the surface of the sun itself.

This is the first NASA mission that has been named for a living individual.



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Offline catdlr

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Parker Solar Probe Trailer


NASA Goddard
Published on Jul 20, 2018

Parker Solar Probe is NASA's mission to the Sun. The spacecraft will launch summer 2018.

Learn more at www.nasa.gov/solarprobe.

Music credit: Luminous Skies [Underscore] by Andrew Prahlow

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Genna Duberstein (USRA): Lead Producer
Steve Gribben (Johns Hopkins University/APL ): Animator



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Offline catdlr

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Delta IV Parker Solar Probe: Launching the Fastest Human-made Object

United Launch Alliance
Published on Jul 20, 2018

ULA Trajectory Engineer Nick Driver on launching NASA's Parker Solar Probe mission atop ULA's Delta IV Heavy rocket. Usually used for large satellites, in this case the heavy lifter is being used to give a small spacecraft a high-energy delivery to the sun.



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