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Parker Solar Probe - post-launch Discussion and Updates
by
jebbo
on 23 Aug, 2018 06:24
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A thread for updates on the post-launch, science phase of the mission
Timeline (incomplete)| 12 Aug 2018 | Launch |
| 3 Oct 2018 | Venus Flyby #1 |
| 5 Nov 2018 | Perihelion #1 |
| 4 Apr 2019 | Perihelion #2 |
| 1 Sep 2019 | Perihelion #3 |
| 26 Dec 2019 | Venus Flyby #2 |
--- Tony
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#1
by
jbenton
on 23 Aug, 2018 09:07
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Since you labeled this as a
discussion and updates thread, and since it will be some time until the next
major event, I thought I'd ask:
Does anyone know much about the history of this probe?
Specifically, I'm interested in knowing how the Parker Probe compares to the older concept back in the early 2000's. My understanding is that the original concept had the perihelion even closer than the current design, and explored the Sun's poles, but the aphelion was all the way past Jupiter (it would've used an RTG):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parker_Solar_ProbeAdmin. O'Keefe thought it was too expensive, so NASA cancelled it. But then Congress intervened. This is from page 6 in the Proposed Europa Missions thread:
Here is a link to an update on the status of the Europa Clipper mission. I wrote it as a guest on Van Kane's "Future Planetary Exploration" website.
http://futureplanets.blogspot.com/2013/05/europa-clipper-update.html
I hope that it answers some questions about the mission.
How this will turn out is difficult to gauge. This is not the first time such a struggle has occurred. For years, the Congress earmarked funds for development of a Solar Probe mission. Eventually, NASA got the message and awarded a new start for the Solar Probe Plus spacecraft. About 10 years ago, when NASA was trying to eliminate funding for the New Horizons Pluto probe, Congress specifically earmarked funding for that mission...
Good reference to Solar Probe. I had forgotten about that. There's a good story behind the creation of Solar Probe Plus. My limited understanding/memory is that Congress kept putting money in the budget for that but NASA kept ignoring them. NASA just did not think that they could afford Solar Probe. Finally, Alan Stern said to that community (this is almost a direct quote from a talk he gave) "Do you want 100% of nothing or 80% of something?" And he forced them to redesign Solar Probe into a mission that NASA could afford and got a new start on it.
... and with that, they de-scoped it into it's present form with solar panels and Venus flybys.
My question, then is threefold:
1) Can anyone expand on this narrative?
2) Would the science of the original mission plan really be demonstrably better in any measurable way?
3) How much more would this have cost? (adjusted for inflation, please
) If I'm not mistaken the Parker Solar Probe cost NASA ~$1.5 billion
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#2
by
Blackstar
on 23 Aug, 2018 11:26
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An earlier version had 3 RTGs. I saw a large scale model of it at a conference ca 2006. That would have added a lot to the cost (over $100 million, I think). One of the things that Alan Stern did during his short term as AA for science was tell the heliophysics community (I heard him say this) "Do you want 80 percent of something or 100 percent of nothing?" His point was that they had been trying forever to get the mission funded and it was not happening, so they needed to change their science goals to come up with a more affordable mission.
You should also look at the relevant heliophysics decadal surveys to see how the mission was explained and prioritized. Understanding what the science goals were tells you a lot about how the mission design changed.
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#3
by
Blackstar
on 23 Aug, 2018 11:37
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Some examples. I'm not sure this is the configuration that I saw in model form around 2006. The concept design has changed many times over many decades.
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#4
by
jbenton
on 23 Aug, 2018 11:43
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That thing looks epic!!!
Of course that's also exactly what I thought the first time I saw the design for the Parker Solar Probe - then known as "Solar Probe Plus"
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#5
by
Star One
on 23 Aug, 2018 12:11
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Common sense would question why you would even come up with a design needing RTGs when you’re going towards the source of all Solar Power. Surely they are only needed when there isn’t enough sunlight for solar panels. Unless you’re trying to fly a design that includes everything plus the kitchen sink so to speak and think budgets are unlimited.
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#6
by
Blackstar
on 23 Aug, 2018 12:26
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That thing looks epic!!!
Of course that's also exactly what I thought the first time I saw the design for the Parker Solar Probe - then known as "Solar Probe Plus"
I think that PSP is in many ways more interesting. If you look at how they designed the solar panels with that little lip on the end to get power when they are fully stowed, it's a pretty cool solution to a hellish environment.
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#7
by
Blackstar
on 23 Aug, 2018 12:28
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Also, somewhere there is a graphic showing about 10 different Solar Probe design concepts dating from the 1980s to the 2000s. That might have even been posted here, so go looking for it. And I think I also posted the very first Solar Probe concept design here, dating from the early 1960s. It was simply a box with a big shield out front. See if you can find it, and if you do, you could re-post it to this thread.
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#8
by
zhangmdev
on 23 Aug, 2018 12:37
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Lots of info about the Solar Probe
https://solarprobe.gsfc.nasa.gov/solarprobe_apl_study.pdfThe original orbit is very elongated. The spacecraft has to endure cold environments of outer plants as well as very hot conditions close to Sun. Two thermal shields and three MMRTGs. The primary shield is 2.7 m indiameter and 5 m in height, 121 kg in mass. It has to withstand thrust loads to 20 G. That is going to be very difficult.
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#9
by
Blackstar
on 23 Aug, 2018 13:12
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#10
by
Blackstar
on 23 Aug, 2018 14:20
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Now I vaguely seem to remember that the model that I saw in 2006 was a smaller version of the 3-RTG spacecraft in the images above. I think that the early 2000s Solar Probe was still too big and expensive, and so they tried to force it down and that meant removing some instruments. But even that one required the 3 RTGs and that was still expensive.
Solar Probe is another example of how initial cost estimates can be wrong. I believe that over a decade ago the mission was rejected because it was going to cost something like $1.5 billion. So they went back to the drawing board and scaled it back, got rid of the RTGs, etc. And in the end, the scaled-back mission still cost something like $1.6 billion.
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#11
by
Welsh Dragon
on 23 Aug, 2018 17:43
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Common sense would question why you would even come up with a design needing RTGs when you’re going towards the source of all Solar Power. Surely they are only needed when there isn’t enough sunlight for solar panels. Unless you’re trying to fly a design that includes everything plus the kitchen sink so to speak and think budgets are unlimited.
Several of the early concepts had a Jupiter flyby like Ulysses.
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#12
by
Zed_Noir
on 23 Aug, 2018 17:59
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Wonder if there will be a follow-on mission study in the next few decadal surveys?
Something more like the early Solar Probe Plus designs prior to the descoping or something similar to the current PSP design in terms of observation objectives?
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#13
by
zhangmdev
on 23 Aug, 2018 19:01
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#14
by
whitelancer64
on 23 Aug, 2018 19:06
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Wonder if there will be a follow-on mission study in the next few decadal surveys?
Something more like the early Solar Probe Plus designs prior to the descoping or something similar to the current PSP design in terms of observation objectives?
If PSP doesn't sufficiently answer the coronal heating questions, or does so while raising a large subset of new questions, then a follow-on might be worth it.
A set of solar probes that could be flown in a constellation to measure the changes in the Sun's magnetic fields, like the Van Allen belt probes do for the Earth, would be extremely facinating.
And I've always wanted to see a follow-on for the STEREO probes. Maybe with 4 probes launched several months apart so we nearly always have 100% coverage of the Sun.
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#15
by
Star One
on 23 Aug, 2018 19:47
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Common sense would question why you would even come up with a design needing RTGs when you’re going towards the source of all Solar Power. Surely they are only needed when there isn’t enough sunlight for solar panels. Unless you’re trying to fly a design that includes everything plus the kitchen sink so to speak and think budgets are unlimited.
Several of the early concepts had a Jupiter flyby like Ulysses.
That makes more sense. Was to get its orbit even closer to the Sun.
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#16
by
jbenton
on 23 Aug, 2018 22:25
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Wonder if there will be a follow-on mission study in the next few decadal surveys?
Something more like the early Solar Probe Plus designs prior to the descoping or something similar to the current PSP design in terms of observation objectives?
If PSP doesn't sufficiently answer the coronal heating questions, or does so while raising a large subset of new questions, then a follow-on might be worth it.
A set of solar probes that could be flown in a constellation to measure the changes in the Sun's magnetic fields, like the Van Allen belt probes do for the Earth, would be extremely facinating.
And I've always wanted to see a follow-on for the STEREO probes. Maybe with 4 probes launched several months apart so we nearly always have 100% coverage of the Sun.
Weren't they planning something like that at one time? The Solar Sentinels mission?
https://web.archive.org/web/20160712142314/http://science.nasa.gov:80/science-news/science-at-nasa/2006/01sep_sentinels/
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#17
by
Blackstar
on 24 Aug, 2018 00:38
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If PSP doesn't sufficiently answer the coronal heating questions, or does so while raising a large subset of new questions, then a follow-on might be worth it.
A set of solar probes that could be flown in a constellation to measure the changes in the Sun's magnetic fields, like the Van Allen belt probes do for the Earth, would be extremely facinating.
My understanding is that the interstellar probe mission concept is getting more attention. Solar Probe and IP have always been kinda the two bookend heliophysics missions--go close to the sun and very far away. And both have been limited by technology and cost. This does not mean that IP will get prioritized. And PSP is going to raise new questions that will prompt new missions, but with different goals and parameters. So you may not see something that looks like PSP again, but you may see missions that try to capture related data.
There is also increasing attention to many satellite constellations for solar measurements. Lots of people are excited about cubesats. The problem is that cubesats don't last very long, and if you're going to send them far from Earth you need to worry about things like radiation hardening and longevity. So really it's a constellation of specialized small satellites, not cheapo cubesats as people currently think of them. But taking measurements from many different locations is something that scientists are starting to get interested in.
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#18
by
Star One
on 24 Aug, 2018 06:37
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Wouldn’t there be a place for another mission to study the Sun by flying over its poles. There has only been the Ulysses mission to study the solar poles so far as I am aware.
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#19
by
Jim
on 24 Aug, 2018 13:43
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Wouldn’t there be a place for another mission to study the Sun by flying over its poles. There has only been the Ulysses mission to study the solar poles so far as I am aware.
Solar Orbiter
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#20
by
Star One
on 24 Aug, 2018 14:49
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Wouldn’t there be a place for another mission to study the Sun by flying over its poles. There has only been the Ulysses mission to study the solar poles so far as I am aware.
Solar Orbiter
Thanks I see it’s planned to do co-observations with this probe.
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#21
by
JH
on 24 Aug, 2018 17:01
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Yeah, PSP and SO complement each other extremely well.
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#22
by
mn
on 24 Aug, 2018 18:22
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#23
by
Star One
on 24 Aug, 2018 18:36
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Yeah, PSP and SO complement each other extremely well.
On Wikipedia it just says Atlas V as the launch vehicle with no configuration? From its orbit should I assume something like 541 or 551?
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#24
by
JH
on 24 Aug, 2018 21:34
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Last I heard, it was on a 411.
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#25
by
Blackstar
on 25 Aug, 2018 04:29
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https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=26605.0I'm trying to find the early 1960s document I found on solar probe. I thought I posted it here. Anyways, it was pretty much just a square box with a shield out front. Earliest iteration I'd seen. If somebody finds it, please post it here.
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#26
by
Star One
on 25 Aug, 2018 08:30
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Last I heard, it was on a 411.
Thanks. Surprised at that.
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#27
by
AnalogMan
on 25 Aug, 2018 10:27
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#28
by
Blackstar
on 25 Aug, 2018 12:15
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https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=26605.0
I'm trying to find the early 1960s document I found on solar probe. I thought I posted it here. Anyways, it was pretty much just a square box with a shield out front. Earliest iteration I'd seen. If somebody finds it, please post it here.
Might this be the document you were thinking of?
That's it. I found that in an archive many years ago. I believe this is the earliest proposed configuration for a Solar Probe. In the other thread that I linked to I included another report, ca. 1964. It's possible that other one predates this one by a few months. I'll go find that and post it here.
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#29
by
Blackstar
on 25 Aug, 2018 12:31
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Okay, so the earlier study posted above dates from March 1964. This one dates from August 1964. It is a much more detailed study than that short paper and represents a lot more engineering analysis.
It's probably no coincidence that both of these were produced in 1964. Either the first inspired the second, they were both inspired by something else, or they were preparing them for a conference or a decision-making process like a National Academies committee.
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#30
by
starbase
on 27 Aug, 2018 13:51
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#31
by
YesRushGen
on 30 Aug, 2018 18:02
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Random questions regarding PSP...
1. Certainly, PSP is designed primarily for studying the sun. Would any of it's instruments be useful in searching for the hypothetical Vulcanoids? PSP definitely will have a unique vantage point.
2. If the spacecraft remains healthy following it's primary mission and receives an extension... Is it possible to use additional Venus flybys to increase PSP's orbital inclination about the Sun? If so, we could have ourselves the "Polar Parker Solar Probe" - PPSP.
Kelly
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#32
by
speedevil
on 30 Aug, 2018 21:43
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Random questions regarding PSP...
1. Certainly, PSP is designed primarily for studying the sun. Would any of it's instruments be useful in searching for the hypothetical Vulcanoids? PSP definitely will have a unique vantage point.
2. If the spacecraft remains healthy following it's primary mission and receives an extension... Is it possible to use additional Venus flybys to increase PSP's orbital inclination about the Sun? If so, we could have ourselves the "Polar Parker Solar Probe" - PPSP.
Kelly
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273351399_The_Wide-Field_Imager_for_Solar_Probe_Plus_WISPR - is interesting.
Page 18 mentions it will in principle be able to view vulcanoids.
As to going polar - as the spacecraft leaves venuses orbital plane, encounters with it would be extraordinarily rare, meaning any orbital change stops.
Also, the nominal mission is out to 2025.
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#33
by
CuddlyRocket
on 31 Aug, 2018 07:54
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Common sense would question why you would even come up with a design needing RTGs when you’re going towards the source of all Solar Power. Surely they are only needed when there isn’t enough sunlight for solar panels.
Because you'd have to expose your solar panels to the Sun for them to work, which is highly problematical at the temperatures anything on the probe exposed to the Sun is going to reach! Plus you have to worry about heat conduction down the power cables.
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#34
by
Star One
on 31 Aug, 2018 15:02
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Common sense would question why you would even come up with a design needing RTGs when you’re going towards the source of all Solar Power. Surely they are only needed when there isn’t enough sunlight for solar panels.
Because you'd have to expose your solar panels to the Sun for them to work, which is highly problematical at the temperatures anything on the probe exposed to the Sun is going to reach! Plus you have to worry about heat conduction down the power cables.
So where Parker is going is at the limit of Solar panel design then.
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#35
by
speedevil
on 31 Aug, 2018 15:11
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So where Parker is going is at the limit of Solar panel design then.
There was an earlier variant with a deeper dive, with solar panels.
If you put the solar panels so they can only see a tiny crescent of the sun, that fixes most of the issues. Pointing becomes more critical - but it was critical anyway.
Secondly, for the closer orbits, the time spent in them is tiny.
It spends (in the latter orbits) 35 hours within 15 radii of the sun every few months, but only 5 hours within 10 radii.
5 hours is in the realm of 'easy to do with batteries', especially given that they only need to do a couple of dozen cycles over their life, and there is no RADAR, or other high powered instruments required during this time.
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#36
by
JH
on 31 Aug, 2018 15:17
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So where Parker is going is at the limit of Solar panel design then.
Yes, the solar panel design on PSP is unique, but the RTGs in older designs were necessary because Jupiter flybys were used to increase inclination. SPP (now rechristened PSP) decreased mission cost partly by abandoning higher inclination orbits (the plasma environment around the sun is markedly different at higher latitudes).
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#37
by
zhangmdev
on 31 Aug, 2018 16:12
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#38
by
Sam Ho
on 31 Aug, 2018 22:58
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2. If the spacecraft remains healthy following it's primary mission and receives an extension... Is it possible to use additional Venus flybys to increase PSP's orbital inclination about the Sun? If so, we could have ourselves the "Polar Parker Solar Probe" - PPSP.
As to going polar - as the spacecraft leaves venuses orbital plane, encounters with it would be extraordinarily rare, meaning any orbital change stops.
Also, the nominal mission is out to 2025.
The PSP final orbit is designed to avoid planetary encounters. Specifically, the orbit is the same period as Mercury's, but phased so it never encounters the planet. Because of that, the next time PSP comes anywhere near Venus after the final flyby is in May of 2030.
For repeated Venus flybys to increase inclination, you want ESA's Solar Orbiter.
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#39
by
GClark
on 01 Sep, 2018 13:12
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For repeated Venus flybys to increase inclination, you want ESA's Solar Orbiter.
FWIW, I have (somewhere) the mission plans for JAXA's Solar-D (formerly Solar-C Plan A), which will use SEP & EGAs to get to a +/- 40-degree inclination.
ISTR that China also has a an Out-of-Ecliptic mission in the pipeline.
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#40
by
zhangmdev
on 01 Sep, 2018 14:18
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A Chinese scientist says the country's solar radio heliograph is likely to cooperate with NASA's recently launched Parker Solar Probe to study the Sun.
"The Chinese Spectral Radioheliograph (CSRH), built at Ming'antu, a radio quiet region in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, consists of 100 antennas with different frequency spectra covering an area of 10 square km. It can monitor solar activities on a wide imaging resolution spectrum."
" the observation range of the CSRH and the Parker Solar Probe will overlap and it's possible that the two will cooperate in the future for specific scientific tasks. "
http://www.china.org.cn/china/Off_the_Wire/2018-08/14/content_58736256.htmNever heard about this project. Tried and failed to find more info about this cooperation.
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#41
by
Rondaz
on 05 Sep, 2018 14:37
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Parker Solar Probe Continues Successful Commissioning Operations
September 5, 2018
Parker Solar Probe continues to bring its instruments and secondary systems online — slightly ahead of schedule — as it speeds away from Earth.
On Friday, Aug. 31, flight controllers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland performed a second planned Trajectory Correction Maneuver (TCM-2), a thruster burn which lasted for seven minutes and five seconds. This maneuver, which was executed with a high degree of precision, adjusted the direction of the spacecraft to position it for its Venus flyby on Oct. 3, when it will use Venus’ gravity to shed speed and draw its orbit closer to the Sun in preparation for its first solar approach.
On Sept. 2, four two-meter electric field antennas, part of the FIELDS instrument suite, were deployed. These antennas (as well as a fifth, which is mounted on the long boom at the other end of Parker Solar Probe) need to be extended away from the spacecraft to accurately measure the electric fields of the corona. These four antennas are not protected by Parker Solar Probe’s Thermal Protection System, or heat shield, so they are made of niobium C-103, a high-temperature alloy that can withstand the intense solar heat.
Just a few hours after the FIELDS antennas were deployed, the Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons (SWEAP) investigation team successfully opened the covers of two instruments, the Solar Probe Analyzer (SPAN) instruments. The SPAN instruments are used to measure the solar wind when it is coming in at an angle relative to the spacecraft.
Before opening the SPAN instrument doors, the team ramped up high voltages on the Solar Probe Cup (SPC) instrument, also part of SWEAP. Solar Probe Cup measures the thermal solar wind plasma flowing radially from the Sun — requiring this instrument to be mounted outside the heat shield and pointed directly at the Sun. Like the FIELDS antennas, Solar Probe Cup is constructed of niobium C-103.
Other systems and instruments have completed checkouts as well. The spacecraft’s high gain antenna — which will be used to send high-rate science data to Earth — has been moved through its full range of motion.
EPI-Lo and EPI-Hi, the two Energetic Particle Instruments that make up the IS☉IS suite (pronounced “ee-sis” and short for Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun), have been turned on and have completed low voltage checks.
The Wide-field Imager for Solar Probe (WISPR) instrument has been turned on and has taken closed-door test images to calibrate the systems and imagers.
“The spacecraft continues to perform as designed, and thanks to the team’s careful planning and execution, we’re commissioning instruments slightly ahead of schedule,” said APL’s Andy Driesman, Parker Solar Probe project manager.
“The science team is excited to begin the investigation phase of the mission,” said Nour Raouafi of APL, Parker Solar Probe project scientist. “We’re looking forward to seeing this initial science data and getting our first look at what we know will be many discoveries that Parker Solar Probe will make.”
As of 12 p.m. EDT on Sept. 4, Parker Solar Probe was more than 15 million miles from Earth, travelling at about 44,700 miles per hour (72,000 kilometers per hour).
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#42
by
lamid
on 05 Sep, 2018 22:48
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#43
by
jbenton
on 05 Sep, 2018 23:57
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Thanks for all that
And yes, it's strange, the difference in probe weight is 685kg - 478kg and rockets 733,000 - 587,000kg. The gravity well is strong.
"The Force [of gravity] is strong with this one" (Earth)
I apologize for cracked English, I was not born in an English-speaking country
As far as I can tell, your English is perfect
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#44
by
envy887
on 06 Sep, 2018 02:58
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Energy is close, but velocity is pointing to a quite different direction. To fly inward along an very elongated oribit, it must cancel the sideway movement of the Earth. The original Solar Probe planned to use Atlas 551 Star 48B. It was going to fly outward to meet Jupiter.
C3 only relates to the Earth; it is a measure of the leftover energy after going a very far distance from Earth.
The direction that this distance is traveled does not change the C3, so it doesn't matter if it's going into a lower or higher heliocentric orbit.
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#45
by
lamid
on 09 Sep, 2018 04:51
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...
On Friday, Aug. 31, flight controllers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland performed a second planned Trajectory Correction Maneuver (TCM-2), a thruster burn which lasted for seven minutes and five seconds.
...
a second planned Trajectory Correction Maneuver (TCM-2), a thruster burn which lasted
for 35.2 seconds.
Editor’s note: The original version of this post misstated the length of the TCM-2 thruster burn. This version has been updated with the correct figure.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2018/09/05/parker-solar-probe-continues-successful-commissioning-operations/
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#46
by
lamid
on 11 Sep, 2018 08:32
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From the
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi I made the chart of the 24th Parker Solar Probe around the Sun
the result
0,04589886AU 6866372km min 19.jun.2025 05:27
190,76580km/s max 19.jun.2025 08:41
I do not understand why is the minimum distance and max speed at another time?
SPACECRAFT TRAJECTORY
Name Start (TDB) End (TDB)
---------------------------------------- ----------------- -----------------
psp_20180812_20250831_v034_RO1_TCM1.V0.1 2018-Aug-12 08:17 2025-Aug-31 09:18
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#47
by
Steven Pietrobon
on 11 Sep, 2018 10:01
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I do not understand why is the minimum distance and max speed at another time?
The speed must be relative to a point which is not the centre of the Sun, otherwise they should coincide. Perhaps they are using Earth relative speed.
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#48
by
kdhilliard
on 11 Sep, 2018 13:28
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I do not understand why is the minimum distance and max speed at another time?
lamid, it looks like you are computing with respect to "Observer Location: Solar System Barycenter (SSB) [500@0]" and plotting "Quantities: 20.1 (delta = Range of target center with respect to the observer) & 22.2 (VmagOb = Magnitude of target center velocity wrt the observer)".
Yes, everything is orbiting about the barycenter, but the PSP is so close to the Sun at that point that you can't treat it as a 2-body problem between the probe and the barycenter, so its range is not minimizing at the same time its speed is maximizing.
It is close enough to the Sun that you can get away with treating it as a 2-body problem between the probe and the Sun, and if you plot "Quantities: 19.1 (r = Heliocentric range) & 22.1 (VmagSn = Magnitude of target center velocity wrt Sun)", then you will find the extrema concide at 2025-Jun-19 08:40 with r=0.045873380734 au, VmagSn=VmagOb=190.7704 km/s.
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#49
by
lamid
on 11 Sep, 2018 14:01
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yes, solar system barycenter.
If use Sun (body center) [500@10]
Result>
0,04587338AU 6862560km min 19.jun.25 08:41
190,77036km/s max 19.jun.25 08:41
Note:
I know, this is a planned trajectory, and the outcome will depend on the success of trajectory corrective maneuvers (TCM).
But the PSP will run around the solar system's barycenter, not the Sun.
And the distance of Sun to Solar System barycenter is 1 048 272 km (19.jun.2025)
Edit 2018-09-13:
When I look at the
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgiresult:
Barycenter is in oposite side the Sun.
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#50
by
lamid
on 12 Sep, 2018 08:21
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Parker Solar Probe 24th perihelion in the coordinates of the Solar System Barycenter
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#51
by
Rondaz
on 14 Sep, 2018 19:54
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Parker Solar Probe’s Solar Array Cooling System Fully Activated
On Sept. 13, Parker Solar Probe’s first-of-its-kind water-cooled Solar Array Cooling System (or SACS) was made fully operational. The SACS will protect Parker Solar Probe’s solar arrays — responsible for powering the spacecraft — from the intense heat of the Sun.
Though the solar arrays rely on the Sun’s energy to create electrical power for the spacecraft, they’re also very sensitive to overheating, and Parker Solar Probe is the first scientific mission to use a water-cooled solar array thermal management system. Water flows through mini-channels embedded in the solar arrays to absorb heat, then flows into four radiators to release that heat into space. This keeps the solar panels cool while near the Sun, allowing them to efficiently generate power for the spacecraft.
Though the Sun-facing side of Parker Solar Probe’s heat shield will reach temperatures as high as 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit when the spacecraft is close to the Sun, the SACS will keep the solar arrays — partially exposed to the Sun’s direct radiation — at less than 302 degrees.
The Solar Array Cooling System uses large black radiators, at the top of the spacecraft, to cool water that flows through portions of the solar arrays, bottom left. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whitman
As planned, the cooling system came partially online shortly after launch on Aug. 12. Roughly one hour after Parker Solar Probe’s 3:31 a.m. EDT launch, the spacecraft autonomously released the launch locks on its two solar arrays and deployed the panels. The spacecraft then released approximately two-thirds of a gallon of deionized water from a heated tank into two of four large radiators, mounted just below the spacecraft’s heat shield.
Then on Sept. 13, at around 11 p.m. EDT — when the spacecraft had reached a distance of about 84 million miles (135 million kilometers) from the Sun — the remaining one-third of a gallon of water was released, activating the last two radiators and making the SACS fully operational. These events were controlled by the mission operations team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab in Laurel, Maryland.
“There are a number of technological breakthroughs on Parker Solar Probe that make the mission possible,” said APL’s Andy Driesman, project manager for mission. “The Solar Array Cooling System is really the heart and circulatory system of the spacecraft. Without it, the solar arrays would not survive the heat from the Sun, and we would not be able to operate the instruments that will explore the Sun’s corona and the systems that protect the spacecraft from the intense solar environment.”
As of 12 p.m. EDT on Sept. 14, Parker Solar Probe was 21 million miles (34 million km) from Earth, traveling at about 51,000 miles per hour (82,000 kph). Track the spacecraft’s progress online.
By Geoff Brown
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
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#52
by
plutogno
on 19 Sep, 2018 19:10
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#53
by
jbenton
on 20 Sep, 2018 05:30
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Thanks for the link; the pictures are beautiful!
caption from the article:
The right side of this image — from WISPR’s inner telescope — has a 40-degree field of view, with its right edge 58.5 degrees from the Sun’s center. The left side of the image is from WISPR’s outer telescope, which has a 58-degree field of view and extends to about 160 degrees from the Sun. There is a parallax of about 13 degrees in the apparent position of the Sun as viewed from Earth and from Parker Solar Probe. Credit: NASA/Naval Research Laboratory/Parker Solar Probe
Where is the inner telescope in relation to the outer telescope. I struggle to imagine a telescope within a telescope...
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#54
by
lamid
on 20 Sep, 2018 05:44
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WISPR (Wide-field Imager for Solar Probe)
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#55
by
Yeknom-Ecaps
on 28 Sep, 2018 21:38
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Announced "First light" took place for WISPR on September 9 ......
seems like SWEAP/SPAN was on September 8?
any idea for the other instruments
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#56
by
Rondaz
on 02 Oct, 2018 14:28
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Fall 2018 Milestones for Parker Solar Probe
Sarah Frazier October 2, 2018
We like to call Parker Solar Probe the coolest, hottest, fastest mission under the Sun — and fall 2018 will prove why. Here are a few mission milestones to look forward to over the coming months.
Oct. 3, 2018 (about 4:45 a.m. EDT) — Parker Solar Probe performs its first Venus gravity assist. This maneuver — to be repeated six more times over the lifetime of the mission — will change Parker Solar Probe’s trajectory to take the spacecraft closer to the Sun.
Oct. 29, 2018 — Parker Solar Probe is expected to come within 27 million miles of the Sun. This is the record currently held by Helios 2, set in 1976.
Oct. 30, 2018 — Parker Solar Probe is expected to surpass a heliocentric speed of 153,454 miles per hour. This is the record for fastest spacecraft measured relative to the Sun, set by Helios 2 in 1976.
These speed and distance estimates could change after Parker Solar Probe performs its Venus gravity assist on Oct. 3.
Oct. 31 – Nov. 11, 2018 — Parker Solar Probe performs its first solar encounter. Throughout this period, the spacecraft will gather valuable science data. It will not be in contact with Earth because of the Sun’s interference and the orientation needed to keep the spacecraft’s heat shield between it and the Sun. The spacecraft is expected to reach its closest approach on Nov. 6. Like the distance and speed records, this estimate could change after the Venus gravity assist.
December 2018 — Parker Solar Probe will downlink the science data gathered during its first solar encounter.
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#57
by
K-P
on 02 Oct, 2018 17:01
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What is the flyby distance of Venus tomorrow?
And what about on subsequent flybys? Similar?
Thanks.
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#58
by
dsmillman
on 02 Oct, 2018 17:19
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#59
by
lamid
on 03 Oct, 2018 05:49
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#60
by
Rondaz
on 03 Oct, 2018 15:22
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Parker Solar Probe Successfully Completes First Venus Flyby
Sarah Frazier October 3, 2018
On Oct. 3, Parker Solar Probe successfully completed its flyby of Venus at a distance of about 1,500 miles during the first Venus gravity assist of the mission. These gravity assists will help the spacecraft tighten its orbit closer and closer to the Sun over the course of the mission.
Detailed data from the flyby will be assessed over the next few days. This data allows the flight operations team to prepare for the remaining six Venus gravity assists which will occur over the course of the seven-year mission.
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#61
by
zubenelgenubi
on 04 Oct, 2018 13:18
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I was working an event last night; Dr. Nicola Fox was one of the presenters. Currently, she is the Director of NASA's Heliophysics Division at NASA HQ. Previously, IIRC, she was the PSP PI.
She announced the successful fly-by to the audience.
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#62
by
lamid
on 05 Oct, 2018 12:27
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I was surprised by the 7-th fly around Venus
in pdf Solar Probe Plus
the minimum height above the surface of Venus very courageous 317 km
by
psp_20180812_20250831_v034_RO1_TCM1.V0.1 2018-Aug-12 08:17 2025-Aug-31 09:18
is it 399 km
In the coordinates of Venus
In the coordinates Solar System Barycenter:
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi#top2024-Nov-06 18:43:00.0000, .... 6.450509180035495E+03, ...
42 TCM (Trajectory Correction), now only 40, how to comply with the plan
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#63
by
speedevil
on 05 Oct, 2018 12:48
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#64
by
lamid
on 07 Oct, 2018 10:28
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Parker Solar Probe seven gravity brakes near Venus
by Horizons
psp_20180812_20250831_v034_RO1_TCM1.V0.1 2018-Aug-12 08:17 2025-Aug-31 09:18
1., 2., 5. and 6. The PSP falls to the perihelion
3rd, 4th and 7th climb to aphelion
PSP orbit in coordinate - Solar System Barycenter
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#65
by
lamid
on 10 Oct, 2018 07:11
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The previous post showed a reduction in speed during braking on Venus (from 31.45 to 12.3 km/s during 7 flyby).
Now showing specific orbital energy (E=Ek+Ep=1/2v^2-mu/r),
before and after braking around Venus and its change:
Interesting is change 97 km2/s2 at 3rd flyby.
Peri a apocentrum is in SSB coordinates (Peri_SSB, no perihelion)
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#66
by
lamid
on 11 Oct, 2018 06:28
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PSP 3rd flyby around Venus
Gif is animated, click on it.
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#67
by
lamid
on 12 Oct, 2018 09:05
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...
42 TCM (Trajectory Correction), now only 40, how to comply with the plan
according to:
SOLAR PROBE PLUS MISSION DESIGN OVERVIEW AND MISSION PROFILE.pdf
PSP after 1st flight around Venus, should have the 4th TCM behind
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#68
by
Rondaz
on 24 Oct, 2018 23:10
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In First for a Spacecraft, Parker Solar Probe Autonomously Manages Heat Load on Solar Arrays
Sarah Frazier Posted on October 17, 2018
Two days after Parker Solar Probe flew past Venus toward its rendezvous with the Sun, the spacecraft had drawn close enough to our star that its power-generating solar array wings began to tilt themselves inward – a task directed by the spacecraft itself, based on the rising temperatures – away from the Sun and behind the spacecraft’s heat shield. This is the first time that autonomous, closed-loop solar array angle control based on temperature has taken place on a spacecraft.
This solar array movement, controlled by software within the spacecraft’s main processor, began on Oct. 5, soon after Parker Solar Probe’s distance from the Sun dropped below about 65 million miles.
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#69
by
plutogno
on 25 Oct, 2018 05:40
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#70
by
Targeteer
on 29 Oct, 2018 22:06
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https://www.nasa.gov/feature/parker-solar-probe-breaks-record-becomes-closest-spacecraft-to-sunOct. 29, 2018
Parker Solar Probe Breaks Record, Becomes Closest Spacecraft to Sun
Parker Solar Probe now holds the record for closest approach to the Sun by a human-made object. The spacecraft passed the current record of 26.55 million miles from the Sun's surface on Oct. 29, 2018, at about 1:04 p.m. EDT, as calculated by the Parker Solar Probe team.
The previous record for closest solar approach was set by the German-American Helios 2 spacecraft in April 1976. As the Parker Solar Probe mission progresses, the spacecraft will repeatedly break its own records, with a final close approach of 3.83 million miles from the Sun's surface expected in 2024.
“It’s been just 78 days since Parker Solar Probe launched, and we’ve now come closer to our star than any other spacecraft in history,” said Project Manager Andy Driesman, from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. “It’s a proud moment for the team, though we remain focused on our first solar encounter, which begins on Oct. 31.”
Parker Solar Probe is also expected to break the record for fastest spacecraft traveling relative to the Sun on Oct. 29 at about 10:54 p.m. EDT. The current record for heliocentric speed is 153,454 miles per hour, set by Helios 2 in April 1976.
The Parker Solar Probe team periodically measures the spacecraft's precise speed and position using NASA's Deep Space Network, or DSN. The DSN sends a signal to the spacecraft, which then retransmits it back to the DSN, allowing the team to determine the spacecraft's speed and position based on the timing and characteristics of the signal. Parker Solar Probe's speed and position were calculated using DSN measurements made on Oct. 24, and the team used that information along with known orbital forces to calculate the spacecraft's speed and position from that point on.
Parker Solar Probe will begin its first solar encounter on Oct. 31, continuing to fly closer and closer to the Sun's surface until it reaches its first perihelion — the point closest to the Sun — at about 10:28 p.m. EST on Nov. 5. The spacecraft will face brutal heat and radiation conditions while providing humanity with unprecedentedly close-up observations of a star and helping us understand phenomena that have puzzled scientists for decades. These observations will add key knowledge to NASA’s efforts to understand the Sun, where changing conditions can propagate out into the solar system, affecting Earth and other worlds.
Banner image: Parker Solar Probe, shown in this animation, became the closest-ever spacecraft to the Sun on Oct. 29, 2018, when it passed within 26.55 million miles of the Sun’s surface. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL
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#71
by
eeergo
on 30 Oct, 2018 10:08
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#72
by
Rondaz
on 30 Oct, 2018 13:31
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Parker Solar Probe Becomes Fastest-Ever Spacecraft
Sarah Frazier Posted on October 29, 2018
At about 10:54 p.m. EDT, Parker Solar Probe surpassed 153,454 miles per hour — as calculated by the mission team — making it the fastest-ever human-made object relative to the Sun. This breaks the record set by the German-American Helios 2 mission in April 1976.
Parker Solar Probe will repeatedly break its own records, achieving a top speed of about 430,000 miles per hour in 2024.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2018/10/29/parker-solar-probe-becomes-fastest-ever-spacecraft/
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#73
by
worldtimedate
on 31 Oct, 2018 06:34
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NASA spacecraft sets new record for closest approach to SunNASA's Parker Solar Probe, mankind's first mission to 'touch' the Sun, has set a new record for closest approach to the Sun by a human-made object, the US space agency announced. Parker Solar Probe was launched on August 12 this year on an unprecedented, seven-year long journey to unlock the mysteries of the Sun's fiery outer atmosphere and its effects on space weather.
The spacecraft passed the current record of 26.55 million miles from the Sun's surface on October 29 as calculated by the Parker Solar Probe team, NASA said in a statement. The previous record for closest solar approach was set by the German-American Helios 2 spacecraft in April 1976, it said. As the Parker Solar Probe mission progresses, the spacecraft will repeatedly break its own records, with a final close approach of 3.83 million miles from the Sun's surface expected in 2024, it said. "It's been just 78 days since Parker Solar Probe launched, and we've now come closer to our star than any other spacecraft in history," said Project Manager Andy Driesman, from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in the US.
Parker Solar Probe is also expected to break the record for fastest spacecraft travelling relative to the Sun. The current record for heliocentric speed is 153,454 miles per hour, set by Helios 2 in April 1976, according to NASA. The Parker Solar Probe team periodically measures the spacecraft's precise speed and position using NASA's Deep Space Network, or DSN. The DSN sends a signal to the spacecraft, which then retransmits it back to the DSN, allowing the team to determine the spacecraft's speed and position based on the timing and characteristics of the signal. Parker Solar Probe's speed and position were calculated using DSN measurements made on October 24, and the team used that information along with known orbital forces to calculate the spacecraft's speed and position from that point on.
Parker Solar Probe will begin its first solar encounter on October 31, continuing to fly closer and closer to the Sun's surface until it reaches its first perihelion -- the point closest to the Sun -- on November 5, NASA said. The spacecraft will face brutal heat and radiation conditions while providing humanity with unprecedentedly close-up observations of a star and helping us understand phenomena that have puzzled scientists for decades, according to the US space agency.
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#74
by
lamid
on 01 Nov, 2018 06:34
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#75
by
eeergo
on 06 Nov, 2018 02:27
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PSP is passing perihelion around now.
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#76
by
lamid
on 06 Nov, 2018 02:30
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New record at 95,326 km / s with artificial body
Validity circa until 4th Perihelion 29 Jan 2020
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#77
by
Mark K
on 06 Nov, 2018 15:17
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New record at 95,326 km / s with artificial body
Validity circa until 4th Perihelion 29 Jan 2020
I don't think PSP is 95326 >km< /s with the Sun. That is several orders of magnitude too fast...
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#78
by
lamid
on 06 Nov, 2018 16:03
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#79
by
eeergo
on 07 Nov, 2018 23:49
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#80
by
penguin44
on 10 Nov, 2018 04:46
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New record at 95,326 km / s with artificial body
Validity circa until 4th Perihelion 29 Jan 2020
that's 95.326 or just over 95km/s.
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#81
by
Rondaz
on 20 Nov, 2018 20:44
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Parker Solar Probe Reports First Telemetry, Acquisition of Science Data Since Perihelion
Sarah Frazier Posted on November 20, 2018
On Nov. 16, Parker Solar Probe reported that all systems are operating well in the first detailed performance and health update sent to Earth by the spacecraft since its first solar encounter.
At about 6:00 p.m. EST on Friday, Nov. 16, mission controllers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab in Laurel, Maryland, received the report from the spacecraft, which also included information about the data collected by the four instrument suites during its first solar encounter. Parker Solar Probe’s first solar encounter phase took place Oct. 31 – Nov. 11, culminating in its first close approach to the Sun — called perihelion — on Nov. 6 at just 15 million miles from the Sun’s surface, the closest any spacecraft has ever come to our star.
All Parker Solar Probe systems are operating well and as designed. The solid state recorder on the spacecraft indicated that, as planned, the four instrument suites had recorded a significant amount of data, which is scheduled to be downloaded to Earth via the Deep Space Network over several weeks starting Dec. 7. In addition to helping scientists begin to explore fundamental questions about the physics of our star, the data from this initial perihelion — collected closer to the Sun than any before — will help instrument teams calibrate Parker Solar Probe’s instruments and plan future observations.
“The team is extremely proud to confirm that we have a healthy spacecraft following perihelion,” said APL’s Nick Pinkine, mission operations manager for Parker Solar Probe. “This is a big milestone, and we’re looking forward to some amazing science data coming down in a few weeks.”
During the 11-day solar encounter, the spacecraft executed only one autonomous momentum dump – a procedure in which small thrusters are used to adjust the speed of Parker’s reaction wheels. The rate of spin of the wheels is adjusted to maintain the desired orientation of the spacecraft relative to the Sun. Momentum dumps are expected during solar encounters, as the wheels spin up to counter increasing torque from the gravitational effects of the solar environment. Executing only one dump indicates that the spacecraft is well balanced, minimizing the need for these dumps during future solar encounters, which will save propellant.
Parker Solar Probe’s second perihelion will occur on April 4, 2019. During the seven-year mission, the spacecraft will perform a total of 24 perihelia, with the last three bringing the spacecraft to less than 4 million miles from the Sun’s surface.
By Geoff Brown
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2018/11/20/parker-solar-probe-reports-first-telemetry-acquisition-of-science-data-since-perihelion/
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#82
by
Star One
on 13 Dec, 2018 07:24
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The Parker Solar Probe takes its first up-close look at the sunNASA’s Parker Solar Probe has met the sun and lived to tell the tale.
The sun-grazing spacecraft has already broken the records for the fastest space probe and the nearest brush any spacecraft has made with the sun. Now the probe is sending data back from its close solar encounter, scientists reported December 12 at the American Geophysical Union meeting in Washington, D.C.
“What we are looking at now is completely brand new,” solar physicist Nour Raouafi of Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab in Laurel, Md., said at a news conference. “Nobody looked at this before.”
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#83
by
lamid
on 14 Dec, 2018 07:47
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I was surprised that the probe was flying over the middle of the sun.
Really.
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#84
by
Rondaz
on 28 Jan, 2019 16:53
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All Systems Go As Parker Solar Probe Begins Second Sun Orbit
Sarah Frazier Posted on January 28, 2019
On Jan. 19, 2019, just 161 days after its launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe completed its first orbit of the Sun, reaching the point in its orbit farthest from our star, called aphelion. The spacecraft has now begun the second of 24 planned orbits, on track for its second perihelion, or closest approach to the Sun, on April 4, 2019.
Parker Solar Probe entered full operational status (known as Phase E) on Jan. 1, with all systems online and operating as designed. The spacecraft has been delivering data from its instruments to Earth via the Deep Space Network, and to date more than 17 gigabits of science data has been downloaded. The full dataset from the first orbit will be downloaded by April.
“It’s been an illuminating and fascinating first orbit,” said Parker Solar Probe Project Manager Andy Driesman, of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. “We’ve learned a lot about how the spacecraft operates and reacts to the solar environment, and I’m proud to say the team’s projections have been very accurate.” APL designed, built, and manages the mission for NASA.
“We’ve always said that we don’t know what to expect until we look at the data,” said Project Scientist Nour Raouafi, also of APL. “The data we have received hints at many new things that we’ve not seen before and at potential new discoveries. Parker Solar Probe is delivering on the mission’s promise of revealing the mysteries of our Sun.”
The Parker Solar Probe team is not only focused on analyzing the science data but also preparing for the second solar encounter, which will take place in about two months.
In preparation for that next encounter, the spacecraft’s solid state recorder is being emptied of files that have already been delivered to Earth. In addition, the spacecraft is receiving updated positional and navigation information (called ephemeris) and is being loaded with a new automated command sequence, which contains about one month’s worth of instructions.
Like the mission’s first perihelion in November 2018, Parker Solar Probe’s second perihelion in April will bring the spacecraft to a distance of about 15 million miles from the Sun – just over half the previous close solar approach record of about 27 million miles set by Helios 2 in 1976.
The spacecraft’s four instrument suites will help scientists begin to answer outstanding questions about the Sun’s fundamental physics — including how particles and solar material are accelerated out into space at such high speeds and why the Sun’s atmosphere, the corona, is so much hotter than the surface below.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2019/01/28/all-systems-go-as-parker-solar-probe-begins-second-sun-orbit/
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#85
by
Rondaz
on 28 Mar, 2019 16:23
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Parker Solar Probe Approaches Second Solar Encounter
Sarah Frazier Posted on March 28, 2019
On March 30, 2019, Parker Solar Probe begins the second solar encounter phase of its mission, culminating in its closest approach to the Sun, called perihelion, on April 4.
During this solar encounter phase, which lasts until April 10, the spacecraft’s four suites of science instruments are fully operational and storing science data collected from within the Sun’s corona. As designed, Parker Solar Probe will be out of contact with Earth for several days during the solar encounter. This allows the spacecraft to prioritize keeping its heat shield, called the Thermal Protection System, oriented towards the Sun, rather than pointing its transmitter towards Earth. Science data from this second solar encounter phase will downlink to Earth over several weeks later in spring 2019.
Like the mission’s first orbit, Parker Solar Probe will reach a perihelion of about 15 million miles from the Sun’s surface — meeting its own record for closest-ever approach to the Sun, a little more than half the previous record distance of about 27 million miles set by Helios 2 in 1976. The spacecraft’s top speed of about 213,200 miles per hour is also the same as the first solar encounter of the mission. In December 2019, Parker Solar Probe will perform the second of seven Venus gravity assists of its mission, setting up the trajectory that will carry the spacecraft closer to the Sun and to a higher top speed.
By Sarah Frazier
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2019/03/28/parker-solar-probe-approaches-second-solar-encounter/
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#86
by
starbase
on 02 Apr, 2019 11:41
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Any info when (UTC time) Parker Solar Probe will reach perihelion on April 4?
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#87
by
starbase
on 03 Apr, 2019 10:20
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#88
by
Mongo62
on 03 Apr, 2019 16:48
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#89
by
Rondaz
on 05 Apr, 2019 14:45
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Parker Solar Probe Completes Second Close Approach to the Sun
Sarah Frazier Posted on April 5, 2019
Parker Solar Probe has successfully completed its second close approach to the Sun, called perihelion, and is now entering the outbound phase of its second solar orbit. At 6:40 p.m. EDT on April 4, 2019, the spacecraft passed within 15 million miles of our star, tying its distance record as the closest spacecraft ever to the Sun; Parker Solar Probe was traveling at 213,200 miles per hour during this perihelion.
The Parker Solar Probe mission team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, or APL, in Laurel, Maryland scheduled a contact with the spacecraft via the Deep Space Network for four hours around the perihelion and monitored the health of the spacecraft throughout this critical part of the encounter. Parker Solar Probe sent back beacon status “A” throughout its second perihelion, indicating that the spacecraft is operating well and all instruments are collecting science data.
“The spacecraft is performing as designed, and it was great to be able to track it during this entire perihelion,” said Nickalaus Pinkine, Parker Solar Probe mission operations manager at APL.
"We're looking forward to getting the science data down from this encounter in the coming weeks so the science teams can continue to explore the mysteries of the corona and the Sun.”
Parker Solar Probe began this solar encounter on March 30, and it will conclude on April 10. The solar encounter phase is roughly defined as when the spacecraft is within 0.25 AU — or 23,250,000 miles — of the Sun. One AU, or astronomical unit, is about 93 million miles, the average distance from the Sun to Earth.
By Geoff Brown
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2019/04/05/parker-solar-probe-completes-second-close-approach-to-the-sun/
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#90
by
Rondaz
on 01 Aug, 2019 16:44
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Parker Solar Probe Completes Download of Science Data from First Two Solar Encounters
Sarah Frazier Posted on August 1, 2019
As NASA’s Parker Solar Probe approaches its third encounter with the Sun, mission scientists are hard at work poring over data from the spacecraft’s first two flybys of our star — and thanks to excellent performance by the spacecraft and the mission operations team, they’re about to get something extra.
On May 6, 2019, just over a month after Parker Solar Probe completed its second solar encounter, the final transmission of 22 gigabytes of planned science data — collected during the first two encounters — was downlinked by the mission team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, or APL, in Laurel, Maryland.
This 22 GB is 50% more data than the team had estimated would be downlinked by this point in the mission — all because the spacecraft’s telecommunications system is performing better than pre-launch estimates. After characterizing the spacecraft’s operations during the commissioning phase, which began soon after launch, the Parker mission team determined that the telecom system could effectively deliver more downlink opportunities, helping the team maximize the download of science data.
The team has capitalized on the higher downlink rate, instructing Parker Solar Probe to record and send back extra science data gathered during its second solar encounter. This additional 25 GB of science data will be downlinked to Earth between July 24 and Aug. 15.
“All of the expected science data collected through the first and second encounters is now on the ground,” said Nickalaus Pinkine, Parker Solar Probe mission operations manager at APL. “As we learned more about operating in this environment and these orbits, the team did a great job of increasing data downloads of the information gathered by the spacecraft’s amazing instruments.”
There are four instrument suites on Parker, gathering data on particles, waves, and fields related to the Sun’s corona and the solar environment. Scientists use this information — gathered closer to the Sun than any previous measurements — along with data from other satellites and scientific models to expand on what we currently know about the Sun and how it behaves. Data collected during the first two perihelia will be made available to the public later this year.
Parker Solar Probe continues on its record-breaking exploration of the Sun with its third solar encounter beginning Aug. 27, 2019; the spacecraft’s third perihelion will occur on Sept. 1.
By Geoff Brown
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2019/08/01/parker-solar-probe-completes-download-of-science-data-from-first-two-solar-encounters/
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#91
by
Rondaz
on 16 Aug, 2019 21:49
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Parker Solar Probe Gets Extra Observation Time
Sarah Frazier Posted on August 16, 2019
After Parker Solar Probe’s successful first year in space, the mission team has decided to extend science observations as the spacecraft approaches its third solar encounter.
Parker Solar Probe turned on its four instrument suites on Aug. 16, 2019 — earlier than during its previous two solar encounters, extending the observation period from 11 days to about 35 days.
During the spacecraft’s first two solar encounters, the science instruments were turned on when Parker was about 0.25 AU from the Sun and powered off again at the same distance on the outbound side of the orbit. (One AU, or astronomical unit, is about 93 million miles, the average distance between the Sun and Earth.) For this third solar encounter, the mission team turned on the instruments when the spacecraft was around 0.45 AU from the Sun on the inbound side of its orbit and will turn them off when the spacecraft is about 0.5 AU from the Sun on the outbound side.
“We’ve seen very intriguing phenomena below 0.25 AU, and are confident we will see interesting things all the way out to 0.5 AU,” said Nour Raouafi, Parker Solar Probe project scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. “We cannot wait to see how this extended campaign data will compare to our previous data collected during the shorter periods and to the data from previous missions, such as Helios.”
The extended observation time before and after Parker Solar Probe’s perihelion — its closest approach to the Sun during a given orbit — will let scientists capture the evolution of the solar wind over greater distances as it travels away from the Sun. They also hope the additional data will yield more insight into the energetic particles surrounding the Sun, the corona and the overall solar environment.
The data gathered during this period will start downlinking immediately at the end of the extended campaign. The data from the first two encounters will be released to the public in 2019. Parker Solar Probe’s third perihelion will occur on Sept. 1.
By Justyna Surowiec
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2019/08/16/parker-solar-probe-gets-extra-observation-time/
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#92
by
starbase
on 02 Sep, 2019 00:17
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#93
by
Rondaz
on 03 Sep, 2019 14:45
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Parker Solar Probe Completes Third Close Approach of the Sun
Sarah Frazier Posted on September 3, 2019
At just before 1:50 p.m. EDT on Sept. 1, 2019, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe completed its third close approach of the Sun, called perihelion. At the time of perihelion, the spacecraft was about 15 million miles from the Sun’s surface, traveling at more than 213,200 miles per hour.
Mission controllers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, received a green “A” beacon from the spacecraft soon after perihelion, meaning all systems were performing as designed and that the spacecraft was in good health.
This third encounter, which was at approximately the same distance from the Sun and speed as the first two, differs in that the spacecraft’s four instrument suites have been on and gathering data for a longer period than other perihelia.
For this third solar encounter, the mission team turned on the instruments when the spacecraft was around 0.45 astronomical units from the Sun on the inbound side of its orbit. (One astronomical unit, or AU, is about 93 million miles, the average distance between the Sun and Earth.) The instruments will be turned off when Parker Solar Probe is about 0.5 AU from the Sun on the outbound side, which will occur on about Sept. 20. For the prior two perihelia, the instruments were on from 0.25 AU prior to and after completing the close approach.
By Geoff Brown
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2019/09/03/parker-solar-probe-completes-third-close-approach-of-the-sun/
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#94
by
Rondaz
on 12 Nov, 2019 18:17
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First Parker Solar Probe Science Data Released to Public
Sarah Frazier Posted on November 12, 2019
On Nov. 12, 2019, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe team released scientific data collected during the spacecraft’s first two solar orbits to the general public.
Data can be accessed through the NASA Space Physics Data Facility, the Solar Data Analysis Center, the APL Parker Solar Probe Gateway, and the Science Operation Centers of the four science investigation teams (the University of California, Berkeley; Princeton University; Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; and Naval Research Laboratory.) The newly released data, in the form of data files and graphical displays, is available for interested public users to manipulate, analyze, and plot in any way they choose.
The released encounter data encompasses measurements made during the first two solar encounters, spanning the time between Oct. 31 and Nov. 12, 2018, and March 30 and April 19, 2019, when the spacecraft was within 0.25 AU of the Sun, as well as data collected at farther distances. One AU, or astronomical unit, is about 93 million miles, the average distance between the Sun and Earth.
Science teams led by principal investigators from partner institutions have been busy poring over the wealth of information collected by Parker Solar Probe in preparation for the mission’s first science results, to be released later this year. The four instrument suites onboard – FIELDS, ISʘIS, SWEAP, and WISPR – have been observing the characteristics of the solar wind (fields, waves, flows, and particles) in the immediate environment surrounding the Sun, called the corona.
“Parker Solar Probe is crossing new frontiers of space exploration, giving us so much new information about the Sun,” said Parker Solar Probe Project Scientist Nour E. Raouafi, from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, or APL, in Laurel, Maryland, which manages the mission for NASA. “Releasing this data to the public will allow them not only to contribute to the success of the mission along with the scientific community, but also to raise the opportunity for new discoveries to the next level.”
With three of 24 planned solar orbits under its belt, Parker Solar Probe will continue to get closer to the Sun in the coming years, eventually swooping to within 4 million miles of the Sun’s surface, facing heat and radiation like no spacecraft before it. The mission seeks to provide new data on solar activity and how the solar corona works, which contributes significantly to our ability to forecast major space weather events that impact life on Earth. The mission launched in 2018 and is slated to perform its primary science mission until 2025.
By Justyna Surowiec
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2019/11/12/first-parker-solar-probe-science-data-released-to-public/
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#95
by
jacqmans
on 03 Dec, 2019 10:52
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December 02, 2019
MEDIA ADVISORY M19-134
NASA to Present First Findings of Solar Mission in Media Teleconference
NASA will announce the first results from the Parker Solar Probe mission, the agency's revolutionary mission to "touch" the Sun, during a media teleconference at 1:30 p.m. EST Wednesday, Dec. 4.
During the teleconference, mission experts will discuss research results from four instruments on the probe, which are changing our understanding of the Sun and other stars. Their findings also will be published at 1 p.m. Wednesday on the website of the journal Nature. Teleconference audio will stream live at:
https://www.nasa.gov/liveParticipants in the call are:
Nicola Fox, director of the Heliophysics Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington
Stuart Bale, principal investigator of the FIELDS instrument at the University of California, Berkeley
Justin Kasper, principal investigator of the Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons (SWEAP) instrument at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor
Russ Howard, principal investigator of the Wide-Field Imager for Parker Solar Probe (WISPR) instrument at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington
David McComas, principal investigator of the Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun (ISOIS) instrument at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey
To participate in the media teleconference, media must provide their name and affiliation to Miles Hatfield at 650-580-8333 or
[email protected] by noon Dec. 4.
The media event will be followed at 3 p.m. by a special episode of NASA Science Live about the results and the overall science goals of the Parker mission. The program will air on NASA Television, the agency's website, Facebook Live, YouTube and Periscope. The public can send questions during the event using the hashtag #askNASA on Twitter or by leaving a comment in the chat section of Facebook.
On Thursday, Dec. 5, NASA will host a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) about the findings. Questions can be submitted to the Reddit AMA event when it begins at 2 p.m.
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#96
by
Star One
on 04 Dec, 2019 19:47
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#97
by
Eric Hedman
on 05 Dec, 2019 00:25
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In the video it was said that there are no dust particles within 3.5 million miles of the Sun because they get vaporized. It would be interesting to know what happens to that vapor, Does it fall into the Sun, stay where it is, or get accelerated outward by the solar wind? If it does get pushed away from the Sun, does it coalesce back into tiny dust particles? It also never ceases to amaze me that every one of these missions finds some surprises.
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#98
by
jacqmans
on 05 Dec, 2019 12:38
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#99
by
jacqmans
on 05 Dec, 2019 12:39
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December 04, 2019
RELEASE 19-093
First NASA Parker Solar Probe Results Reveal Surprising Details About Our Sun
The Sun is revealing itself in dramatic detail and shedding light on how other stars may form and behave throughout the universe – all thanks to NASA's Parker Solar Probe. The spacecraft is enduring scorching temperatures to gather data, which are being shared for the first time in four new papers that illuminate previously unknown and only-theorized characteristics of our volatile celestial neighbor.
The information Parker has uncovered about how the Sun constantly ejects material and energy will help scientists rewrite the models they use to understand and predict the space weather around our planet, and understand the process by which stars are created and evolve. This information will be vital to protecting astronauts and technology in space – an important part of NASA’s Artemis program, which will send the first woman and the next man to the Moon by 2024 and, eventually, on to Mars.
The four papers, now available online from the journal Nature, describe Parker’s unprecedented near-Sun observations through two record-breaking close flybys. They reveal new insights into the processes that drive the solar wind – the constant outflow of hot, ionized gas that streams outward from the Sun and fills up the solar system – and how the solar wind couples with solar rotation. Through these flybys, the mission also has examined the dust of the coronal environment, and spotted particle acceleration events so small that they are undetectable from Earth, which is nearly 93 million miles from the Sun.
During its initial flybys, Parker studied the Sun from a distance of about 15 million miles. That is already closer to the Sun than Mercury, but the spacecraft will get even closer in the future, as it travels at more than 213,000 mph, faster than any previous spacecraft.
“This first data from Parker reveals our star, the Sun, in new and surprising ways,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Observing the Sun up close rather than from a much greater distance is giving us an unprecedented view into important solar phenomena and how they affect us on Earth, and gives us new insights relevant to the understanding of active stars across galaxies. It’s just the beginning of an incredibly exciting time for heliophysics with Parker at the vanguard of new discoveries.”
Among the findings are new understandings of how the Sun's constant outflow of solar wind behaves. Seen near Earth, the solar wind plasma appears to be a relatively uniform flow – one that can interact with our planet's natural magnetic field and cause space weather effects that interfere with technology. Instead of that flow, near the Sun, Parker's observations reveal a dynamic and highly structured system, similar to that of an estuary that serves as a transition zone as a river flows into the ocean. For the first time, scientists are able to study the solar wind from its source, the Sun's corona, similar to how one might observe the stream that serves as the source of a river. This provides a much different perspective as compared to studying the solar wind were its flow impacts Earth.
Switchbacks
One type of event in particular caught the attention of the science teams – flips in the direction of the magnetic field, which flows out from the Sun, embedded in the solar wind and detected by the FIELDS instrument. These reversals – dubbed "switchbacks" – appear to be a very common phenomenon in the solar wind flow inside the orbit of Mercury, and last anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes as they flow over the spacecraft. Yet they seem not to be present any farther from the Sun, making them undetectable without flying directly through that solar wind the way Parker has.
During a switchback, the magnetic field whips back on itself until it is pointed almost directly back at the Sun. These switchbacks, along with other observations of the solar wind, may provide early clues about what mechanisms heat and accelerate the solar wind. Not only does such information help change our understanding of what causes the solar wind and space weather affecting Earth, it also helps us understand a fundamental process of how stars work and how they release magnetic energy into their environment.
Rotating Wind
In a separate publication, based on measurements by the Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons (SWEAP) instrument, researchers found surprising clues as to how the Sun’s rotation affects the outflow of the solar wind. Near Earth, the solar wind flows past our planet as if it travels initially in almost straight lines – or "radially," like spokes on a bicycle wheel – out from the Sun in all directions. But the Sun rotates as it releases the solar wind, and before it breaks free, the solar wind is expected to get a push in sync with the Sun's rotation.
As Parker ventured to a distance of around 20 million miles from the Sun, researchers obtained their first observations of this effect. Here, the extent of this sideways motion was much stronger than predicted, but it also transitioned more quickly than predicted to a straight, strictly outward flow, which helps mask the effects at a larger distance. This enormous extended atmosphere of the Sun will naturally affect the star's rotation. Understanding this transition point in the solar wind is key to helping us understand how the Sun’s rotation slows down over time, with implications for the lifecycles of our star, its potentially violent past, as well as other stars and the formation of protoplanetary disks, dense disks of gas and dust encircling young stars.
Dust in the Wind
Parker also observed the first direct evidence of dust starting to thin out around 7 million miles from the Sun – an effect that has been theorized for nearly a century, but has been impossible to measure until now. These observations were made using Parker’s Wide-field Imager for Solar Probe (WISPR) instrument, at a distance of about 4 million miles from the Sun. Scientists have long suspected that close to the Sun, this dust would be heated to high temperatures, turning it into a gas and creating a dust-free region around the star. At the observed rate of thinning, scientists expect to see a truly dust-free zone beginning at a distance of about 2-3 million miles from the Sun, which the spacecraft could observe as early as September 2020, during its sixth flyby. That dust-free zone would signal a place where the material of the dust has been evaporated by the Sun’s heat, to become part of the solar wind flying past Earth.
Energetic Particles
Finally, Parker's Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun (ISʘIS) energetic particle instruments have measured several never-before-seen events so small that all traces of them are lost before they reach Earth. These instruments have also measured a rare type of particle burst with a particularly high ratio of heavier elements – suggesting that both types of events may be more common than scientists previously thought. Solar energetic particle events are important, as they can arise suddenly and lead to space weather conditions near Earth that can be potentially harmful to astronauts. Unraveling the sources, acceleration and transport of solar energetic particles will help us better protect humans in space in the future.
“The Sun is the only star we can examine this closely,” said Nicola Fox, director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters. “Getting data at the source already is revolutionizing our understanding of our own star and stars across the universe. Our little spacecraft is soldiering through brutal conditions to send home startling and exciting revelations.”
Data from Parker Solar Probe's first two solar encounters are available online at:
https://go.nasa.gov/34VPMGKParker Solar Probe is part of NASA’s Living with a Star program to explore aspects of the Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. The Living with a Star program is managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, designed, built and operates the spacecraft.
For more information about Parker, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/parkerImagery from the mission is available at:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13484
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#100
by
eeergo
on 05 Dec, 2019 13:18
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In the video it was said that there are no dust particles within 3.5 million miles of the Sun because they get vaporized. It would be interesting to know what happens to that vapor, Does it fall into the Sun, stay where it is, or get accelerated outward by the solar wind? If it does get pushed away from the Sun, does it coalesce back into tiny dust particles? It also never ceases to amaze me that every one of these missions finds some surprises.
Yep:
That dust-free zone would signal a place where the material of the dust has been evaporated by the Sun’s heat, to become part of the solar wind flying past Earth.
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#101
by
Star One
on 16 Dec, 2019 14:23
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#102
by
Rondaz
on 23 Dec, 2019 15:13
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Parker Solar Probe Heads Toward Second Venus Flyby
Miles Hatfield Posted on December 23, 2019
After nearly 17 months in space culminating with the release of new science data, Parker Solar Probe is right on course for its second Venus gravity assist maneuver. This flyby will set the spacecraft up for its fourth perihelion of the Sun, during which it will set records for spacecraft speed and closest solar distance, while continuing to gather groundbreaking data from within the Sun’s corona to help scientists make new discoveries.
On Dec. 26, at 1:14 p.m. EST, Parker Solar Probe will perform its second Venus flyby, during which the spacecraft will fly within 1,870 miles of Venus, using the planet to slow itself down and adjust its trajectory for an optimal path toward the Sun. This move allows Parker Solar Probe to precisely position itself for a fourth orbit around Earth’s star—with its next close approach, or perihelion, on January 29, 2020—when it will break its own speed and distance records, flying within 11.6 million miles of the Sun’s surface, 20 percent closer than its first three perihelia.
“These gravity assist maneuvers create the enormous orbit reduction required to get Parker Solar Probe close to the Sun,” said Yanping Guo, mission and navigation design manager for Parker Solar Probe at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. “The seven Venus flybys are connected in a unique sequence, and each of the flybys is chosen not only to make the necessary orbit reductions, but also to hit the subsequent flybys.”
To prepare for this planetary maneuver, the Parker Solar Probe mission operations team at APL performed a small trajectory correction maneuver (TCM) on the spacecraft on Dec. 8. This TCM very accurately lined up the spacecraft for the rendezvous with Venus. After the flyby, the team will perform another TCM to fine-tune Parker Solar Probe’s final approach for its fourth perihelion.
The spacecraft will complete five more of these critical Venus flybys in the coming years in order to gradually pull it closer to the Sun.
By Justyna Surowiec
Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2019/12/23/parker-solar-probe-heads-toward-second-venus-flyby/
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#103
by
Rondaz
on 26 Dec, 2019 22:20
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Parker Solar Probe Completes Second Venus Flyby
Sarah Frazier Posted on December 26, 2019
On Dec. 26, Parker Solar Probe successfully completed its second flyby of Venus. The spacecraft used Venus to slow itself down, approaching the planet at a distance of about 1,870 miles from Venus’s surface during the second gravity assist of the mission. This gravity assist maneuver adjusted Parker Solar Probe’s trajectory to set it up for its fourth orbit around the Sun, or perihelion, which will occur on January 29, 2020. The flight operations team will use the data collected during the recent flyby to make adjustments for the remaining five Venus gravity assists which will occur over the course of the seven-year mission.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2019/12/26/parker-solar-probe-completes-second-venus-flyby/
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#104
by
Rondaz
on 26 Dec, 2019 22:31
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The @ParkerSunProbe passed 3008 km from Venus today, Dec 26, at 1815 UTC, its second Venus flyby. Parker is within Venus' Hill sphere until 0626 UTC tomorrow. Once back in solar orbit its perhelion will be only 0.130 AU, compared to 0.166 AU before the flyby. Peri4 is on Jan 29.
https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1210320792807981056
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#105
by
Rondaz
on 23 Jan, 2020 15:08
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Parker Solar Probe Prepares for New Science, New Records on Fourth Solar Orbit
Sarah Frazier Posted on January 23, 2020
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe began its fourth solar encounter today at 9:00 a.m. EST, at a distance of about 23.3 million miles from the Sun’s surface. It will reach perihelion, its closest distance to our star, during this orbit on Jan. 29 at about 4:30 a.m. EST.
The fourth perihelion will send the spacecraft within 11.6 million miles of the Sun, closer than its first three perihelia, which were at about 15 million miles from the Sun. The spacecraft’s four instrument suites will acquire data in this new environment, sampling this previously unexplored region around the Sun and potentially revealing new information about the solar wind and atmosphere.
Parker Solar Probe’s first three orbits of the Sun were all approximately the same distance from our star. Following the mission’s second Venus flyby on Dec. 26, 2019, and after one trajectory correction maneuver on Jan. 10, the spacecraft will set new records for distance from the Sun and fastest human-made object during its fourth perihelion; both records are currently held by Parker Solar Probe.
By Geoff Brown
Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2020/01/23/parker-solar-probe-prepares-for-new-science-new-records-on-fourth-solar-orbit/
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#106
by
Rondaz
on 27 Jan, 2020 13:39
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#107
by
Rondaz
on 29 Jan, 2020 15:06
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Parker Solar Probe Completes Fourth Closest Approach, Breaks New Speed and Distance Records
Sarah Frazier Posted on January 29, 2020
At 4:37 a.m. EST on Jan. 29, 2020, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe broke speed and distance records as it completed its fourth close approach of the Sun. The spacecraft traveled 11.6 million miles from the Sun’s surface at perihelion, reaching a speed of 244,225 miles per hour. These achievements topple Parker Solar Probe’s own previous records for closest spacecraft to the Sun — previously about 15 million miles from the Sun’s surface — and fastest human-made object, before roughly 213,200 miles per hour.
Parker Solar Probe will continue to fly ever closer to the Sun on its seven-year journey, exploring regions of space never visited before and providing scientists with key measurements to help unveil the mysteries of the solar corona and wind.
As with most of Parker Solar Probe’s close approaches, the spacecraft is out of contact with Earth for several days around perihelion.
By Justyna Surowiec
Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2020/01/29/parker-solar-probe-completes-fourth-closest-approach-breaks-new-speed-and-distance-records/
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#108
by
ncb1397
on 30 Jan, 2020 14:30
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Not sure how to top this..maybe the equivalent of the Galileo probe...i.e. a one way trip and see how deep you can get. The Galileo probe made it pretty far (down to 23 atmospheres). Target a sunspot so you survive a bit longer.
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#109
by
Swedish chef
on 30 Jan, 2020 22:29
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I found this talk to be interesting. Justin Casper - First Discoveries by Parker Solar Probe and the SWEAP Investigation. CfA Colloquium
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#110
by
Rondaz
on 03 Feb, 2020 03:09
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Parker Solar Probe Reports Successful Record-Setting Fourth Close Encounter of the Sun
Sarah Frazier Posted on February 1, 2020
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is healthy and operating as designed following its fourth close approach to the Sun, called perihelion, on Jan. 29.
Mission controllers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, received a “status A” beacon from the spacecraft at 5:20 a.m. EST on Feb. 1. Status A is the best of four possible status signals, and indicates that the spacecraft is operating nominally and the instrument suites are collecting science data. This status also indicates that any minor issues that may have occurred were identified and resolved by Parker Solar Probe’s onboard autonomy and fault management systems.
During this perihelion, Parker Solar Probe broke its own records for speed and proximity to the Sun for a human-made object. The spacecraft reached a speed of 244,255 miles per hour (about 393,044 kilometers per hour) as it whipped around the Sun at a distance of 11.6 million miles (about 18.6 million kilometers).
Parker Solar Probe’s heat shield, called the Thermal Protection System, or TPS, reached new record temperatures as well. At this distance from the Sun, computer modeling estimates show that the Sun-facing side of the TPS experienced a blazing 1,134 degrees Fahrenheit (612 degrees C), about 300 degrees hotter than encountered on the spacecraft’s previous three perihelia. The spacecraft and instruments behind this protective heat shield remained at a temperature of about 85 F (30 C). During the spacecraft’s closest three perihelia in 2024-25, the TPS will see temperatures around 2,500 F (1,370 C).
As the mission team learns more about operations and conditions in this region of space, they have increased the amount of time the instruments are on and gathering data. Parker Solar Probe’s fourth solar encounter phase began on Jan. 23, and the spacecraft will continue to acquire science data through Feb. 29, beyond the originally-planned end of the solar encounter phase on Feb. 4. This solar encounter data will be downlinked to Earth beginning in March.
By Geoff Brown
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2020/02/01/parker-solar-probe-reports-successful-record-setting-fourth-close-encounter-of-the-sun/
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#111
by
Star One
on 03 Feb, 2020 19:36
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Using data from NASA's Parker Solar Probe (PSP), a team led by Southwest Research Institute identified low-energy particles lurking near the Sun that likely originated from solar wind interactions well beyond Earth orbit. PSP is venturing closer to the Sun than any previous probe, carrying hardware SwRI helped develop. Scientists are probing the enigmatic features of the Sun to answer many questions, including how to protect space travelers and technology from the radiation associated with solar events.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200203141517.htm
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#112
by
Rondaz
on 05 Feb, 2020 15:42
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New Wave of Parker Solar Probe Science Published
Author Sarah Frazier Posted on February 5, 2020
Researchers using Parker Solar Probe data released a new wave of research papers in a special supplement of The Astrophysical Journal on Feb. 3, 2020. The supplement, titled Early Results from Parker Solar Probe: Ushering a New Frontier in Space Exploration, includes some 47 papers with new findings based on the mission’s first three solar flybys. Several other papers still under review will be published later as part of this same issue. The introduction for the issue was written by Marcia Neugebauer, who first confirmed the existence of the solar wind after it was predicted by Eugene Parker — namesake of Parker Solar Probe — in 1958.
The new research builds upon initial results released in Nature and discussed at the American Geophysical Union meeting in December 2019.
A few highlights include:
New analysis of the magnetic switchbacks first discovered by Parker Solar Probe and described in Nature in Dec. 2019 (Dudok de Wit, et al)
Detailed studies of the slow solar wind, the origins of which are still uncertain, using Parker Solar Probe and other NASA and ESA spacecraft (Rouillard, et al)
New observations of a coronal mass ejection, observed close to the Sun by Parker Solar Probe and from afar by other NASA missions (Wood, et al)
Close measurements of an energetic particle event by Parker Solar Probe and other NASA spacecraft (Leske, et al)
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2020/02/05/new-wave-of-parker-solar-probe-science-published/
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#113
by
Rondaz
on 15 Apr, 2020 15:16
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Data from Parker Solar Probe’s Third Orbit Now Available to the Public
Sarah Frazier Posted on April 15, 2020
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NASA’s Parker Solar Probe team released a second collection of science data to the public on April 14, 2020. The release includes science data from all four of Parker Solar Probe’s instrument suites, spanning the mission’s third orbit around the Sun, which began on June 18, 2019 and completed on November 15, 2019. Also included are high-resolution measurements from the FIELDS and SWEAP instruments.
The data files and graphical displays can be accessed through NASA’s Space Physics Data Facility (SPDF) and Solar Data Analysis Center (SDAC), the APL Parker Solar Probe Gateway, and the Science Operation Centers of the four science investigation teams (the University of California, Berkeley; Princeton University; Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; and Naval Research Laboratory.) Data from Parker Solar Probe’s first two orbits is also available.
New findings from the mission’s first record-setting year in space were released in the Dec. 12, 2019 issue of the journal Nature and a special issue of the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. Parker Solar Probe’s observations reveal a complicated, active system near the Sun’s surface, including a notable phenomenon called switchbacks, which are traveling disturbances in the solar wind that cause the magnetic field to bend back on itself. These switchbacks may be a major source for the heating and acceleration of the solar wind plasma.
To date, Parker Solar Probe has completed four of its planned 24 orbits around the Sun. It will eventually travel within 4 million miles of the Sun’s surface, facing extreme heat and radiation. The mission seeks to provide new data on solar activity and how the solar corona works, which contributes significantly to our ability to forecast major space weather events that impact life on Earth. Parker Solar Probe launched in 2018 and will conduct its primary science mission until 2025.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2020/04/15/data-from-parker-solar-probes-third-orbit-now-available-to-the-public/
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#114
by
Rondaz
on 12 May, 2020 19:37
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Parker Solar Probe Begins Longest Science Observation Campaign
Sarah Frazier Posted on May 12, 2020
On May 9, 2020, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe began its longest observation campaign to date. The spacecraft, which has already completed four progressively closer orbits around the Sun, activated its instruments at a distance of 62.5 million miles from the Sun’s surface, some 39 million miles farther from the Sun than a typical solar encounter. The four instrument suites will continue to collect data through June 28, markedly longer than the mission’s standard 11-day encounters.
The nearly two-month campaign is spurred by Parker Solar Probe’s earlier observations, which revealed significant rotation of the solar wind and solar wind phenomena occurring much farther from the Sun than previously thought. The earlier activation of the science instruments allows the team to cover a larger range in order to trace the evolution of the solar wind as it moves away from the Sun.
“We have a real opportunity here to see what’s going on in these regions further from the Sun’s corona,” said Nour Raouafi, Parker Solar Probe project scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. “While our primary goal is to understand the mysteries at the Sun’s corona and the ‘young’ solar wind closer to the Sun, there is evidence indicating very interesting physics to explore earlier in the orbit and link that to what occurs near the Sun. We have the capability to gather this data and see what it yields.”
The spacecraft will reach its closest point to the Sun for this orbit, called perihelion, on June 7. At perihelion, Parker Solar Probe will be about 11.6 million miles from the Sun’s surface, matching its own record for closest human-made object to the Sun set during its fourth orbit on Jan. 29.
After this solar encounter, the spacecraft will swoop by Venus for its first outbound flyby of the planet. This is when Parker Solar Probe will perform its third Venus gravity assist, which will allow the spacecraft to shed some of its orbital energy and get much closer to the Sun on the following orbit. Flying at an altitude of approximately 516 miles above Venus’ surface — much lower than the previous two flybys but still well above Venus’ atmosphere — Parker Solar Probe will also witness a brief 11-minute solar eclipse during the maneuver. All four instrument suites will be on and collecting data about the near-Venus environment and the planet’s night side during the flyby.
Data from this fifth observation campaign will be downlinked to Earth between late June and mid-August 2020, and will be released to the public in November 2020.
By Justyna Surowiec
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2020/05/12/parker-solar-probe-begins-longest-science-observation-campaign/
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#115
by
starbase
on 06 Jun, 2020 22:36
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#116
by
Rondaz
on 09 Jun, 2020 23:22
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Parker Solar Probe Signals Successful Fifth Encounter of the Sun
Sarah Frazier Posted on June 9, 2020
On June 9, 2020, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe signaled the success of its fifth close pass by the Sun, called perihelion, with a radio beacon tone. The spacecraft completed the fifth perihelion of its mission two days prior, flying within 11.6 million miles from the Sun’s surface, reaching a top speed of about 244,225 miles per hour, which matches the spacecraft’s own records for closest human-made object to the Sun and fastest human-made object, set during its fourth orbit on January 29.
Mission controllers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, received a “status A” beacon from the spacecraft at 4:40 p.m. EDT. Status A is the best of four possible status signals, and indicates that the spacecraft is operating nominally and the instrument suites are collecting science data. This beacon tone comes after a five-day period where communications with the spacecraft were not possible.
After completing the solar encounter on June 13, Parker Solar Probe will travel toward Venus for its third flyby of the planet — the first Venus flyby that will happen as the spacecraft travels away from the Sun, rather than towards the Sun. Parker Solar Probe will use Venus to shed some of its orbital energy and get much closer to the Sun on the following orbit. Passing at an altitude of approximately 516 miles above Venus’ surface — much lower than the previous two flybys but still well above Venus’ atmosphere — Parker Solar Probe will also witness a brief 11-minute solar eclipse during the maneuver while passing through the shadow of the planet.
This fifth orbit around the Sun includes Parker Solar Probe’s longest observation campaign to date. The spacecraft, which has already completed four progressively closer orbits, activated its instruments at a distance of 62.5 million miles from the Sun’s surface on May 9, some 39 million miles farther from the Sun than a typical solar encounter. The full set of instruments will continue to collect data through June 28, markedly longer than the mission’s standard 11-day encounters.
Data from this fifth observation campaign will be downlinked to Earth between late June and mid-August 2020, and will be released to the public in November 2020.
By Justyna Surowiec
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2020/06/09/parker-solar-probe-signals-successful-fifth-encounter-of-the-sun/
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#117
by
Rondaz
on 10 Jul, 2020 16:36
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Parker Solar Probe Prepares for Third Venus Flyby
Sarah Frazier Posted on July 10, 2020
Coming off its fifth encounter with the Sun — and the mission’s longest observation campaign yet — Parker Solar Probe is now headed toward Venus.
Early on July 11, 2020 (UTC), the spacecraft will perform its first outbound flyby of Venus, passing approximately 516 miles above the surface as it curves around the planet. Such Venus gravity assists play an integral role in the Parker Solar Probe mission. The spacecraft relies on the planet to rid itself of orbital energy, which in turn allows it to travel ever closer to the Sun after each Venus flyby. The mission’s previous two Venus flybys swooped past the Sun-facing side of the planet, and this will be Parker Solar Probe’s first pass on Venus’ night side.
Parker Solar Probe will witness a brief 11-minute solar eclipse during the maneuver while passing through the shadow of the planet. Utilizing powerful telescopes, the Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico, Lick Observatory in California, and the Keck Observatory in Hawaii will search for Venus aurora from the ground in coordination with Parker Solar Probe’s pass around the planet, weather permitting. Scientists will combine these ground-based observations with data collected by Parker Solar Probe during the flyby to take an unprecedented look at the interactions between Venus and the solar wind.
This Venus flyby sets Parker Solar Probe up for its sixth close pass by the Sun, slated for September 27. During this perihelion, Parker Solar Probe will travel even closer to the Sun, setting a new record when it passes approximately 8.3 million miles from the solar surface, more than 3 million miles closer than the previous perihelion at 11.6 million miles from the solar surface. The spacecraft’s seventh perihelion is slated for January 17, 2021.
By Justyna Surowiec
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2020/07/10/parker-solar-probe-prepares-for-third-venus-flyby/
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#118
by
Rondaz
on 16 Sep, 2020 15:39
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Parker Solar Probe Mission Releases Science Data from Fourth Orbit
Sarah Frazier Posted on September 16, 2020
Just over a month after Parker Solar Probe marked two action-packed years in space — and hot on the heels of its third Venus flyby and fifth solar orbit — the mission to “touch” the Sun released another trove of data to the public on Sept. 15.
This latest data captured by the spacecraft’s four instrument suites spans Parker Solar Probe’s fourth orbit around the Sun, including its first two Venus flybys, maneuvers used to bring the spacecraft’s orbit in closer to the Sun.
The public can access the latest data through NASA’s Space Physics Data Facility (SPDF) and Solar Data Analysis Center (SDAC), the APL Parker Solar Probe Gateway, and the Science Operation Centers of the four science investigation teams (the University of California, Berkeley; Princeton University; Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; and Naval Research Laboratory.) Data from Parker Solar Probe’s first three orbits is also available.
Two years into its journey, Parker Solar Probe has already revealed a complicated, active system swirling near the Sun’s surface. The spacecraft is set to begin its sixth of 24 planned scientific encounters of the Sun in September 2020, with closest approach — called perihelion — on Sept. 27.
As Parker Solar Probe continues its seven-year trip around the Sun, it will eventually travel within 4 million miles of the Sun’s extremely hot surface. The mission’s primary goal is to provide new data on solar activity and the workings of the Sun’s outer atmosphere — the corona — which contributes significantly to our ability to forecast major space weather events that impact life on Earth.
By Justyna Surowiec
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2020/09/16/parker-solar-probe-mission-releases-science-data-from-fourth-orbit/
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#119
by
Rondaz
on 25 Sep, 2020 22:58
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Parker Solar Probe Speeds toward Record-Setting Close Approach to the Sun
Sarah Frazier Posted on September 25, 2020
Propelled by a midsummer flyby of Venus, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has started yet another record-setting, science-gathering swing around the Sun, its sixth flyby of our star.
Some instruments on the spacecraft have been turned on since late August, collecting data on the near-Sun environment and the solar wind as it streams from our star. At closest approach (called perihelion) on Sept. 27, Parker Solar Probe will come within about 8.4 million miles (13.5 million kilometers) of the Sun’s surface while moving 289,927 miles per hour (466,592 kilometers per hour) — shattering its own records on both counts.
This also marks the first time Parker Solar Probe will dip to within 0.1 astronomical units of the Sun’s center; an “AU” is 93 million miles, the average distance between Earth and the Sun.
“After our last orbit — during which we started science operations much farther out than this encounter — we’re returning our focus to the solar wind closer to the Sun,” said Nour Raouafi, Parker Solar Probe project scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. “We always wonder if we’ll see something new as we get closer and closer. And as the solar cycle rises and the Sun becomes more active, we’ll be able to observe that activity from an unprecedented vantage point.”
Two years into its journey, Parker Solar Probe remains healthy and operating normally. As it continues its seven-year mission, the spacecraft will eventually travel within 4 million miles of the Sun’s extremely hot surface. The mission’s primary goal is to provide new data on solar activity and the workings of the Sun’s outer atmosphere — the corona — which contributes significantly to our ability to forecast major space weather events that impact life on Earth.
This weekend’s perihelion was set up by the probe’s third Venus flyby. On July 11, the spacecraft came within 518 miles above Venus’ surface — much lower than the previous two flybys but still well above Venus’ atmosphere — putting it on a path that brings it 3.25 million miles closer to the Sun than the last perihelion, on June 7. Mission Design and Navigation Manager Yanping Guo of APL noted that the gravity assist provided the mission’s largest orbital speed reduction since launch, trimming the spacecraft’s velocity by 8,438 miles per hour (13,579 kilometers per hour).
Related: Watch how data travels from Parker Solar Probe to Earth.
By Mike Buckley
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2020/09/25/parker-solar-probe-speeds-toward-record-setting-close-approach-to-the-sun/
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#120
by
Rondaz
on 30 Sep, 2020 18:40
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Parker Solar Probe ‘Phones Home’ After Sixth Sun Flyby
Sarah Frazier Posted on September 30, 2020
Zooming away from the Sun, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe checked in with its operators on Earth early on Sept. 30, 2020, letting them know it’s healthy and operating normally after another record-setting close approach to our star on Sept. 27.
Flight controllers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, received a “Status A” signal from the spacecraft through NASA’s Deep Space Network at 4:45 a.m. EDT; Status A is the best of four possible status signals, and indicates that the spacecraft is operating nominally.
The beacon comes after a six-day stretch when communications with the spacecraft were not possible as it wheeled around the Sun. This is the first sign of a successful solar encounter; this sixth solar encounter began Sept. 21 and continues through Oct. 2.
At closest approach (called perihelion) on Sept. 27, Parker Solar Probe came within about 8.4 million miles (13.5 million kilometers) of the Sun’s surface — less than one-tenth of the distance between Earth and the Sun — while reaching a top speed of 289,927 miles per hour (466,592 kilometers per hour), breaking its own records for speed and solar distance.
The team will begin downlinking data from this solar encounter on Oct. 3, giving it more information about the spacecraft’s condition and performance of the science instruments during the flyby.
By Mike Buckley
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2020/09/30/parker-solar-probe-phones-home-after-sixth-sun-flyby/
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#121
by
Rondaz
on 17 Nov, 2020 17:30
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Data from Parker Solar Probe’s fifth orbit around the Sun is now available to the public.
Sarah Frazier Posted on November 17, 2020
This latest batch of science data was collected by Parker Solar Probe’s four instrument suites this past summer, and covers the mission’s fifth solar encounter — including closest approach to the Sun, called perihelion, on June 7— and a special observation period for the mission’s third Venus flyby in July.
The data can be accessed through NASA’s Space Physics Data Facility (SPDF) and Solar Data Analysis Center (SDAC), the APL Parker Solar Probe Gateway, and the Science Operation Centers of the four science investigation teams (the University of California, Berkeley; Princeton University; Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; and the Naval Research Laboratory).
In September, Parker Solar Probe completed its sixth solar encounter. Data from this sixth encounter will be released in February 2021, and early review by the science team has already revealed the mission’s first observation of a sungrazing comet.
Next year will be record-setting for Parker Solar Probe. Starting in January, the spacecraft, built and operated by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, will embark on four solar encounters and two Venus flybys throughout 2021. The spacecraft will travel even closer toward the Sun’s blazing atmosphere, capturing unprecedented data on solar activity and breaking its own speed and distance records multiple times in the process.
Parker Solar Probe’s next solar encounter — on Jan. 12-23, 2021 — will carry the spacecraft around the Earth-facing side of the Sun, providing an opportunity for joint observations with multiple ground-based observatories and several space missions. The coordinated observation campaign organized by the mission’s science team will include NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory and STEREO spacecraft, ESA’s BepiColombo, and ESA and NASA’s Solar Orbiter and SOHO missions.
By Justyna Surowiec
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2020/11/17/data-from-parker-solar-probes-fifth-orbit-now-available/
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#122
by
Rondaz
on 15 Jan, 2021 22:39
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Parker Solar Probe Gears Up for Seventh Solar Pass
Sarah Frazier January 15, 2021
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe will make its next close approach to the Sun on Jan. 17, 2021, during its seventh science-gathering orbit around our star. At its closest approach to the Sun, called perihelion, the spacecraft will reach about 8.4 million miles (13.5 million kilometers) from the Sun’s surface, while traveling at a speed of around 289,930 miles per hour.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2021/01/15/parker-solar-probe-gears-up-for-seventh-solar-pass/
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#123
by
Rondaz
on 19 Jan, 2021 00:29
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#124
by
Rondaz
on 19 Jan, 2021 10:58
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Yesterday's Parker Solar Probe Perihelion 7 is the closest an artificial object has been to the Sun - 13 463 758 km above the photosphere compared to the previous record of 13 464 223 km set by Parker during Perihelion 6 last Sep, based on the Horizons ephemeris.
https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1351358937002598407
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#125
by
Rondaz
on 21 Jan, 2021 19:24
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Parker Solar Probe Marks Seventh Successful Swing around the Sun
There are lots of eyes on the Sun this week, as NASA’s Parker Solar Probe swings around our star on the seventh of its 24 scheduled orbits.
None are closer than Parker Solar Probe, which passed just 8.4 million miles (13.5 million kilometers) from the Sun’s surface while flying at 289,932 miles per hour (466,600 kilometers per hour) on Jan. 17, essentially matching its own records for solar proximity and speed. Around this same time, several spacecraft and dozens of earthbound telescopes were primed to contribute observations that will give scientists a comprehensive and coordinated picture of solar activity.
On Jan. 21, the spacecraft transmitted a “tone one,” indicating all systems were healthy and operating normally after the spacecraft’s close approach to the Sun and heading into the final stretch of the solar encounter, which runs through Jan. 23.
The geometry of this particular orbit means that Parker Solar Probe’s closest approach to the Sun, or perihelion, was in direct view of Earth. Some 40 observatories around the globe, including major installations in Hawaii, the southwestern United States, Europe, and Asia, trained their telescopes on the Sun over the several weeks around the perihelion. About a dozen spacecraft, including NASA’s STEREO, Solar Dynamics Observatory, TIMED, and Magnetospheric Multiscale missions, ESA and NASA’s Solar Orbiter, and ESA’s BepiColombo made simultaneous observations of activity stretching from the Sun to Earth.
With Parker Solar Probe’s latest closest approach to the Sun in direct view of Earth, some 40 observatories around the globe and several spacecraft, including STEREO, BepiColombo, and Solar Orbiter, made simultaneous observations of activity stretching from the Sun to Earth. Distances and planet and spacecraft locations are not to scale. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Nate Rudolph
“Parker Solar Probe has shown us that there is a lot more interconnected activity near the Sun than we once thought,” said Parker Solar Probe Project Scientist Nour Raouafi of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, or APL, in Laurel, Maryland. “With this closest approach visible from Earth, we have a fantastic opportunity to put as many eyes as we can on the Sun to help us build a big picture. And we really appreciate the enthusiastic cooperation of so many observatory and mission teams to make that happen.”
Now just over two years into its seven-year mission, the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft will eventually travel within 4 million miles of the Sun’s surface. The mission’s primary goal is to provide new data on solar activity and the workings of the Sun’s outer atmosphere – the corona – which contributes significantly to our ability to forecast major space weather events that impact life on Earth.
The spacecraft will make three more progressively close passes to the Sun in 2021 alone, as well as two gravity-assist flybys at Venus in February and October to adjust the trajectory of its orbit. After zipping past Venus on Feb. 20, Parker Solar Probe will again make close approaches to the Sun on April 29 and Aug. 9. Following another Venus gravity assist on Oct. 16, the spacecraft will make an even closer solar pass on Nov. 21, with its closest approach just 5.3 million miles from the Sun’s surface.
“This is our busiest year since launch, and it only gets busier as our trajectory takes us closer and closer to the Sun,” said Parker Solar Probe Project Manager Helene Winters of APL. “This is exactly what the spacecraft was designed for – it’s operating just as we expected and is giving us even more data than anticipated. We’re ready for a range of discoveries in this unexplored region of the Sun.”
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2021/01/21/parker-solar-probe-marks-seventh-successful-swing-around-the-sun/
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#126
by
Rondaz
on 19 Feb, 2021 23:29
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Parker Solar Probe Primed for Fourth Venus Flyby
Sarah Frazier Posted on February 19, 2021
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe speeds past Venus on Feb. 20, 2021, using the planet’s gravity to shape its path for its next close approaches to the Sun.
At just after 3:05 p.m. EST, moving about 54,000 miles per hour (about 86,900 kilometers per hour), the spacecraft will pass 1,482 miles (2,385 kilometers) above Venus’ surface as it curves around the planet. Such Venus gravity assists are essential to the mission to bring the spacecraft close to the Sun; Parker Solar Probe relies on the planet to reduce its orbital energy, which in turn allows it to travel closer to the Sun – and inspect the properties of the solar wind closer to its source.
This is the fourth of seven planned Venus gravity assists, and will set Parker Solar Probe up for its eighth and ninth close passes by the Sun, slated for April 29 and Aug. 9. During each of those passes, Parker Solar Probe will break its own record when it comes approximately 6.5 million miles (10.4 million kilometers) from the solar surface, about 1.9 million miles closer than the previous closest approach – or perihelion – of 8.4 million miles (13.5 million kilometers) on Jan. 17.
By Mike Buckley
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2021/02/19/parker-solar-probe-primed-for-fourth-venus-flyby/
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#127
by
Rondaz
on 25 Feb, 2021 11:35
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Parker solar probe captures unique phenomenon on Venus.
12:23 25.02.2021
MOSCOW, February 25 - RIA Novosti. During a close flyby over Venus in July 2020, the Parker solar probe captured stunning views of the planet, showing features of its surface. For the first time, it was possible to record in the image the night glow in the atmosphere of Venus. The photo was published on the official NASA website.
NASA's Parker Solar Probe was launched in 2018 to study the Sun's outer corona. But Venus also plays an important role in the mission. The plan is for the spacecraft to fly around Venus seven times over its seven years of operation, using its gravity to adjust its orbit. Each such maneuver allows the probe to fly closer and closer to the Sun, studying the dynamics of the solar wind near its source.
In parallel, the Parker mission uses these approximations to perform additional observations of Venus. So, during the third gravity assist on July 11, 2020, the WISPR (Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe) onboard wide-angle thermal imager made images of the night side of the planet, unique in quality and scientific value, from a distance of 12,380 kilometers.
WISPR is designed to provide visible light images of the solar corona and inner heliosphere, and to study the structure of the solar wind. While flying over Venus, the instrument detected a bright rim around the planet's edge, created by the night glow - light emitted high in the atmosphere by oxygen atoms that recombine into molecules on the night side.
Scientists expected the WISPR thermal imager to detect clouds in the atmosphere of Venus, but the images suddenly showed details of the planet's surface. In particular, the land of Aphrodite is clearly visible - the largest mountainous region of Venus, comparable in size to Africa . The element appears dark in the image due to the fact that its temperature is about 30 degrees Celsius lower than the environment.
"WISPR has been adapted and tested for visible light observations. We expected to see clouds, but the camera showed us the surface," said Angelos Vourlidas, a WISPR employee at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), in a NASA press release. in Lorel, who coordinated Parker observations with the Japanese Akatsuki mission orbiting Venus.
"WISPr effectively fixed the thermal radiation of the surface of Venus His images are very similar to images obtained spaceship." Akatsuki "near infrared" - said another member of the project WISPr astrophysicist Brian Wood (Brian Wood) from the Laboratory of Naval Research USA in Washington .
The scientists were so impressed with the result that they sent the WISPR back to the lab to measure the instrument's sensitivity to infrared light. If the instrument can indeed capture near-infrared light waves, it will provide new opportunities for studying cosmic dust around the Sun and in the inner solar system, the researchers said.
The Parker solar probe last approached Venus on February 20, 2021. Scientists from the WISPR project expect to receive and process the obtained data by the end of April.
“We look forward to these new images,” says planetary scientist Javier Peralta, who first proposed combining observations from the Parker probe with data from the Akatsuki orbital station, orbiting Venus since 2015. “If WISPR can sense the heat radiation again will see the night glow, it could make a valuable contribution to the exploration of Venus. "
https://ria.ru/20210225/venera-1598896412.html
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#128
by
eeergo
on 25 Feb, 2021 15:46
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Parker solar probe captures unique phenomenon on Venus.
12:23 25.02.2021
MOSCOW, February 25 - RIA Novosti. During a close flyby over Venus in July 2020, the Parker solar probe captured stunning views of the planet, showing features of its surface. For the first time, it was possible to record in the image the night glow in the atmosphere of Venus. The photo was published on the official NASA website.
[...]
https://ria.ru/20210225/venera-1598896412.html
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/parker-solar-probe-offers-a-stunning-view-of-venus"
If WISPR can indeed pick up near-infrared wavelengths of light, the unforeseen capability would provide new opportunities to study dust around the Sun and in the inner solar system. If it can’t pick up extra infrared wavelengths, then these images — showing signatures of features on Venus’ surface — may have revealed a previously unknown “window” through the Venusian atmosphere."
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#129
by
Star One
on 15 Apr, 2021 18:59
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#130
by
Star One
on 19 Apr, 2021 20:13
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Pristine PSP/WISPR Observations of the Circumsolar Dust Ring near Venus's OrbitAbstract
The Parker Solar Probe mission (PSP) has completed seven orbits around the Sun. The Wide-field Imager for Solar Probe (WISPR) on PSP consists of two visible light heliospheric imagers, which together image the interplanetary medium between 13fdg5 and 108° elongation. The PSP/WISPR nominal science observing window occurs during the solar encounters, which take place when the spacecraft (S/C) is within 0.25 au from the Sun. During Orbit 3, an extended science campaign took place while PSP transited between 0.5 and 0.25 au (during both inbound and outbound orbit segments). PSP mission operations implemented a variety of 180° S/C rolls about the S/C-Sun pointing axis during the extended science window. The vantage of the PSP location, combined with the different S/C roll orientations, allowed us to unveil a circumsolar dust density enhancement associated with Venus's orbit. Specifically, we observed an excess brightness band of about 1% at its center over the brightness of the background zodiacal light in all PSP/WISPR images obtained during the extended campaign. We explain this brightness band as due to an increase in the density of the circumsolar dust orbiting the Sun close to the Venusian orbit. The projected latitudinal extent of the ring is estimated at about 0.043 au ± 0.004 au, exhibiting an average density enhancement of the order of 10%. Here, we report and characterize the first comprehensive, pristine observations of the plane-of-sky projection of the dust ring in almost its full 360° longitudinal extension.
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/abe623Source:
https://gizmodo.com/in-a-scientific-first-astronomers-capture-a-complete-v-1846712924
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#131
by
Rondaz
on 29 Apr, 2021 02:56
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NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Keeps Its Cool as it Speeds Closer to the Sun
Sarah Frazier Posted on April 28, 2021
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NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has started its eighth science-gathering solar encounter, putting it one-third of the way through its planned journey of 24 progressively closer loops around the Sun.
Its orbit, shaped by a gravity-assist flyby of Venus on Feb. 20, 2021, will bring the spacecraft closer to the Sun than on any previous flyby. At closest approach, called perihelion, on April 29, Parker Solar Probe will come within about 6.5 million miles (10.4 million kilometers) of the Sun’s surface, while moving faster than 330,000 miles per hour (532,000 kilometers per hour) – breaking its own records for both speed and solar proximity.
On April 25, the spacecraft radioed a “tone one” beacon to operators at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, or APL, in Maryland, indicating all systems were normal heading into closest approach. Parker Solar Probe’s four onboard instrument suites are now collecting data on the solar environment and the solar wind as it streams from the Sun, and science data collection will continue through May 4.
Other ground- and space-based observatories will also capture measurements during this solar encounter in coordination with Parker Solar Probe, including a special observing campaign by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.
By Mike Buckley
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2021/04/28/nasas-parker-solar-probe-keeps-its-cool-as-it-speeds-closer-to-the-sun/
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#132
by
Rondaz
on 30 Apr, 2021 01:59
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#133
by
Star One
on 30 Apr, 2021 15:22
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The Parker Solar Probe passed through Perihelion 8 at 0846 UTC Apr 29, a record small distance of 0.0743AU from the Sun at a record heliocentric velocity of 147.7 km/s (0.05% c )
https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1387921010616377354
According to that thread it should be experiencing very,very small but still measurably time dilation.
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#134
by
Vultur
on 30 Apr, 2021 23:26
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Isn't time dilation even at regular Earth orbit speed measurable (and even taken into account for GPS?)
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#135
by
Star One
on 01 May, 2021 07:10
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Isn't time dilation even at regular Earth orbit speed measurable (and even taken into account for GPS?)
I’d of thought so. Perhaps the effect would be comparatively larger with the Parker Solar Probe.
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#136
by
Vultur
on 01 May, 2021 08:48
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Perhaps the effect would be comparatively larger with the Parker Solar Probe.
Oh, certainly - 148 km/s is a
lot more than any Earth-orbit velocity.
(That's relative to the Sun, apparently, but Earth's orbital speed is only about 30 km/s, so it should be vaguely comparable; I don't know what Earth and Parker Solar Probe's relative vectors look like.)
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#137
by
Rondaz
on 03 May, 2021 16:22
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Successful Eighth Solar Flyby for Parker Solar Probe
Sarah Frazier Posted on May 3, 2021
On May 2, 2021, at 3:00 a.m. EDT, mission controllers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, in Laurel, Maryland, received a “tone one” beacon from Parker Solar Probe, indicating that all systems were healthy and operating normally after the spacecraft’s eighth close approach to the Sun on April 29.
During this close pass by the Sun — called perihelion — Parker Solar Probe broke its own records for spacecraft distance from the Sun and speed, coming to within about 6.5 million miles (10.4 million kilometers) of the Sun’s surface, while moving faster than 330,000 miles per hour (532,000 kilometers per hour).
Science data collection for this solar encounter continues through May 4.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2021/05/03/successful-eighth-solar-flyby-for-parker-solar-probe/
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#138
by
Star One
on 04 May, 2021 09:19
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Radio signal from Venus turned into sound by NASA:
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#139
by
Rondaz
on 19 May, 2021 20:57
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Course Correction Points Parker Solar Probe to Next Venus Flyby
Sarah Frazier Posted on May 19, 2021
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe executed a small maneuver on May 15, 2021, that corrected the trajectory errors from a gravity-assist flyby of Venus in February — and put the probe on newly optimized path for its next Venus gravity assist on Oct. 16.
The maneuver, monitored from the mission operations center at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, lasted about 39 seconds and tweaked the spacecraft’s velocity by 91 centimeters per second, or about 2 miles per hour. The difference might seem negligible to a spacecraft zooming around the Sun at 330,000 miles per hour, but it was actually enough to fine-tune Parker Solar Probe’s path toward the next three Venus gravity assists.
Parker Solar Probe just completed its eighth close approach to the Sun, coming within a record 6.5 million miles (10.4 million kilometers) of the Sun’s surface on April 29. It’ll pass the Sun from about the same distance again on Aug. 9, before using Venus’ gravity on Oct. 16 to swing it even closer to the surface — about 5.6 million miles (9 million kilometers) — on Nov. 21. Assisted by the remaining three Venus flybys, Parker Solar Probe will eventually come within 4 million miles (6.4 million kilometers) of the solar surface.
The team continues to track the spacecraft closely and will evaluate the necessity of other course-correction maneuvers over the next several months. Parker Solar Probe is healthy and its systems are operating normally.
By Mike Buckley
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2021/05/19/course-correction-points-parker-solar-probe-to-next-venus-flyby/
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#140
by
Rondaz
on 02 Jun, 2021 15:47
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Parker Solar Probe Detected A Radio Signal From Venus' Atmosphere
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#141
by
Rondaz
on 03 Jun, 2021 20:42
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Parker Solar Probe Ushers in New Science on the Sun and Solar Wind
Sarah Frazier Posted on June 3, 2021
Scientists using data from NASA’s Parker Solar Probe released a new collection of research papers in a special issue of the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics on June 2, 2021.
The issue, titled Parker Solar Probe: Ushering a New Frontier in Space Exploration, includes 37 papers on discoveries made during mission’s first four orbits around the Sun. The new research builds upon initial results released in Nature in 2019 and a special supplement of The Astrophysical Journal in 2020.
The latest articles include data analysis, theory, and modeling. Among the major topics covered are magnetic switchbacks first discovered by Parker Solar Probe, the role of waves in heating solar plasma, solar angular momentum, the near-Sun dust environment, and the diversity of small energetic-particle events. Highlights include:
The enigma of magnetic switchbacks in the “young” solar wind. The switchbacks are more prominent, and play a larger role in the structure of the solar wind, closer to the Sun. Their origin, evolution and contribution to the heating and acceleration of the solar wind plasma is highly debated. Several papers in this issue discuss different aspects of this mysterious feature.
Clear evidence of the dust-free zone around the Sun, supporting the initial hints of such a zone published in the 2019 Nature papers.
Diverse kinetic and magnetohydrodynamic aspects of plasma — such as wave-particle interactions, magnetic field reconnection, and turbulence — pertinent to the heating and acceleration of the solar wind.
New results about large-scale solar wind structures, such as coronal mass ejections and stream interaction regions, and the often-associated solar energetic particles.
Designed, built, and operated by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, or APL, in Laurel, Maryland, Parker Solar Probe recently completed its eighth solar encounter, breaking its own records for speed and proximity to the Sun. It will reach its top speed and closest point to our star — coming within 4 million miles of its surface, moving some 430,000 miles per hour — by December 2024. The Parker Solar Probe project is managed by the Heliophysics Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C.
“All of the results we’ve reported so far, since Parker Solar Probe began its mission in August 2018, depict conditions of a ‘quiet’ Sun during the solar minimum, or its least active period,” said Nour Raouafi, the Parker Solar Probe project scientist from APL. “Many more discoveries await us as the Sun becomes more active and as the spacecraft reaches deeper into the Sun’s corona.”
By Mike Buckley
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2021/06/03/parker-solar-probe-ushers-in-new-science-on-the-sun-and-solar-wind/
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#142
by
Rondaz
on 06 Aug, 2021 21:16
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Parker Solar Probe Speeding through Latest Science Encounter
Sarah Frazier Posted on August 6, 2021
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is speeding busily through its ninth science-gathering solar encounter, heading toward a close approach of the Sun on Aug. 9 that will take it to within about 6.5 million miles (10.4 million kilometers, or 14.97 solar radii) of the solar surface.
That matches the record-distance of its last closest approach (called perihelion) on April 29; at the same time, the probe will also equal its record-setting flyby speed of 330,000 miles per hour (532,000 kilometers per hour). And, it’s only 2.6 million miles from the ultimate closest approach of 3.8 million miles from the Sun’s surface, which Parker Solar Probe will reach will reach in December 2024.
Designed, built and operated at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland, Parker Solar Probe is operating normally heading into perihelion. Using its four onboard instrument suites, the spacecraft will continue collecting data on the solar environment and solar wind for this encounter through Aug. 15, with much of the data from the encounter expected back on Earth by Aug. 18.
“We are getting into the critical phase of the Parker mission and we’re focused on quite a few things during this encounter,” said Nour E. Raouafi, Parker Solar Probe project scientist from APL. “We expect the spacecraft to be flying through the acceleration zone of the perpetual flow of charged particles that make up the solar wind. Solar activity is also picking up, which is promising for studying larger-scale solar wind structures, like coronal mass ejections, and the energetic particles associated with them.
“But you never know what else you’ll find exploring this close to the Sun,” he added, “and that’s always exciting.”
Three years into its seven-year primary mission, Parker Solar Probe remains healthy while traversing a path that will take it directly through the Sun’s outer atmosphere, known as the corona. The Thermal Protection System shielding the spacecraft is already facing temperatures above 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit (650 degrees Celsius). At Parker Solar Probe’s closest approaches, the TPS must withstand temperatures of 2,500 F while keeping the spacecraft and instruments in its shadow operating at about 85 F.
Preparations are underway for the mission’s fifth flyby of Venus, on Oct. 16, which will direct Parker Solar Probe even closer to the Sun for its 10th science orbit, which culminates with its fourth and final perihelion of the year on Nov. 21.
By Mike Buckley
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2021/08/06/parker-solar-probe-speeding-through-latest-science-encounter/
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#143
by
Rondaz
on 13 Aug, 2021 16:23
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Successful Ninth Solar Flyby for Parker Solar Probe
Sarah Frazier Posted on August 13, 2021
On Aug. 13, 2021, at 5:50 a.m. EDT, mission controllers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, in Laurel, Maryland, received a “tone one” beacon from Parker Solar Probe, indicating that all systems were healthy and operating normally after the spacecraft’s ninth close approach to the Sun on Aug. 9.
During this close pass by the Sun — called perihelion — Parker Solar Probe matched its own records for spacecraft distance from the Sun and speed, coming to within about 6.5 million miles (10.4 million kilometers) of the Sun’s surface, while moving faster than 330,000 miles per hour (532,000 kilometers per hour).
Science data collection for this solar encounter continues through Aug. 15.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2021/08/13/successful-ninth-solar-flyby-for-parker-solar-probe/
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#144
by
centaurinasa
on 29 Aug, 2021 08:06
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#145
by
Rondaz
on 19 Oct, 2021 14:53
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Parker Solar Probe Completes Its Fifth Venus Flyby
Denise Hill Posted on October 19, 2021
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is speeding in toward the Sun after a swing past Venus on Oct. 16, successfully using the planet’s gravity to shape its path for its next closest approach to our star.
At just after 5:30 a.m. EDT, moving about 15 miles (24 kilometers) per second, the spacecraft swooped 2,370 miles (3,814 kilometers) above Venus’ surface. Such gravity assists are essential to the mission to bring Parker Solar Probe progressively closer to the Sun; the spacecraft counts on the planet to reduce its orbital energy, which in turn allows it to travel closer to the Sun and measure the properties of the solar wind near its source.
This was the fifth of seven planned Venus gravity assists. The flyby reduced Parker Solar Probe’s orbital speed by about 6,040 miles per hour (9,720 kilometers per hour), and set it up for its 10th close pass (or perihelion) by the Sun, on Nov. 21.
Parker Solar Probe will break its own distance and speed records on that closest approach, when it comes approximately 5.3 million miles (8.5 million kilometers) from the Sun’s surface — some 1.2 million miles (1.9 million kilometers) closer than the previous perihelion on Aug. 13 – while reaching 101 miles (163 kilometers) per second, or 364,621 miles per hour. Assisted by two more Venus flybys, in August 2023 and November 2024, Parker Solar Probe will eventually come within 4 million miles (6.2 million kilometers) of the solar surface in December 2024.
Parker Solar Probe, which was designed and built at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, is healthy and its systems are operating normally after the Oct. 16 Venus flyby. The flyby operation was monitored by the spacecraft and mission operations teams at APL, through NASA’s Deep Space Network.
By Mike Buckley
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2021/10/19/parker-solar-probe-completes-its-fifth-venus-flyby/
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#146
by
Rondaz
on 08 Nov, 2021 10:50
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Parker Solar Probe has now completed its K-Band Science return phase and just started its X-Band Pre-Solar encounter phase. Commands will be uploaded for encounter number 10 over the next week. Perihelion is the 21 November. Canberra's DSS34 is currently supporting.
https://twitter.com/nascom1/status/1457538846426427394
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#147
by
Star One
on 09 Nov, 2021 20:29
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NASA’s historic mission to “touch the Sun” has encountered a heavy bombardment of dust, surprising mission scientists and resulting in some fascinating new data about the Parker Solar Probe’s increasingly hostile environment.
“These observations are ‘happy surprises’ in that the impact explosions produce clouds of material so dense that we can watch fundamental solar wind physics operate in a way that would not be possible otherwise,” David Malaspina, a research scientist from the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, explained in an email. “They are also ‘happy surprises’ in that the impacts so far have not been large enough to overcome the dust impact shielding designed into much of the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft.”
The total number of collisions now number in the tens of thousands, and the probe has endured intense periods during which it was struck by hypervelocity dust grains once every 12 seconds on average, according to Malaspina. Most impacts aren’t producing debris and dense plasma clouds, but the team did manage to identify around 250 very high-energy impacts that occurred during Parker’s first eight orbits of the Sun.
That said, an energetic particle instrument is beginning to degrade; the impacts have punched a hole through the device, “allowing sunlight to reach the instrument’s sensitive detectors, and driving up their noise levels,” Malaspina explained. But he’s not worried. Even taking the greater density of dust into account, “the updated predictions for the probability of catastrophic failure suggest that there is a high probability—but not 100%—that Parker Solar Probe will survive all 24 planned orbits,” he said.
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-s-parker-solar-probe-is-getting-absolutely-clobber-1848022267
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#148
by
eeergo
on 10 Nov, 2021 07:50
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NASA’s historic mission to “touch the Sun” has encountered a heavy bombardment of dust, surprising mission scientists and resulting in some fascinating new data about the Parker Solar Probe’s increasingly hostile environment.
“These observations are ‘happy surprises’ in that the impact explosions produce clouds of material so dense that we can watch fundamental solar wind physics operate in a way that would not be possible otherwise,” David Malaspina, a research scientist from the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, explained in an email. “They are also ‘happy surprises’ in that the impacts so far have not been large enough to overcome the dust impact shielding designed into much of the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft.”
The total number of collisions now number in the tens of thousands, and the probe has endured intense periods during which it was struck by hypervelocity dust grains once every 12 seconds on average, according to Malaspina. Most impacts aren’t producing debris and dense plasma clouds, but the team did manage to identify around 250 very high-energy impacts that occurred during Parker’s first eight orbits of the Sun.
That said, an energetic particle instrument is beginning to degrade; the impacts have punched a hole through the device, “allowing sunlight to reach the instrument’s sensitive detectors, and driving up their noise levels,” Malaspina explained. But he’s not worried. Even taking the greater density of dust into account, “the updated predictions for the probability of catastrophic failure suggest that there is a high probability—but not 100%—that Parker Solar Probe will survive all 24 planned orbits,” he said.
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-s-parker-solar-probe-is-getting-absolutely-clobber-1848022267
Counter-intuitively, especially if relying on popular culture and sci-fi imaginary, this demonstrates that the cissolar environment is actually much more dangerous for S/C and akin to a rock-infested (only rather sand-infested) field rather than the asteroid belt - but it actually makes much more sense if you think about it for a bit. The volume around the Sun is much smaller than the volume comprised by the main asteroid belt, let alone the Kuiper belt or the Oort cloud, and the Sun doesn't just eject microscopic particles, moreover in a mostly homogeneous fashion and high relative velocities with respect to anything orbiting it.
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#149
by
Star One
on 10 Nov, 2021 11:36
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Is the expectation that the high dust environment will eventually render its scientific payload inoperative?
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#150
by
deadman1204
on 10 Nov, 2021 13:43
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#151
by
Rondaz
on 10 Nov, 2021 20:02
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Space Dust Presents Opportunities, Challenges as Parker Solar Probe Speeds Back toward the Sun
Miles Hatfield Posted on November 10, 2021
Propelled by a recent swing past Venus, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is healthy and performing normally as it heads toward its next closest approach to the Sun on Nov. 21.
Parker Solar Probe will break its own distance and speed records on that approach – the 10th of 24 planned, progressively closer trips around the Sun – when it comes about 5.3 million miles (8.5 million kilometers) from the Sun’s surface, while reaching top speeds of 101 miles (163 kilometers) per second, or 364,621 miles per hour. The probe’s science instruments are already queued up to measure the properties of the solar wind near its source, but the spacecraft is also making other critical, if not unexpected, discoveries.
“We’re observing higher than expected amounts of dust near the Sun,” said Nour Raouafi, Parker Solar Probe project scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. “What’s exciting about this is it’s greatly improving our understanding of the innermost regions of our heliosphere, giving us insight into an environment that, until now, was a total mystery.”
Parker Solar Probe designed, built and now operated at APL, does not carry a dust detector. But as dust grains pelt the spacecraft along its path, the high-velocity impacts create clouds of plasma. These clouds produce unique electrical charges that are picked up by several sensors on the probe’s FIELDS instrument, which is designed to measure the electric and magnetic fields near the Sun. Mission scientists have used this data, for example, to construct comprehensive pictures of the structure and behavior of the large cloud of dust that swirls through the innermost solar system.
The visible imaging camera, WISPR, also picks up bits of material expelled from the spacecraft’s structures after impact with those dust grains. But it also images dust structures far away from the spacecraft, such as the dust ring that shares Venus’ orbit. While learning about space dust isn’t a prime mission science goal, the WISPR and FIELDS have planned for specifically investigating near-Sun dust – in a region of the solar system where no mission has ever operated.
The Parker Solar Probe team did prepare for the spacecraft’s precarious trek through this potentially hazardous environment – as early as the initial mission concept phase – at least as well as our scientific community understood it before the probe’s 2018 launch.
“We designed materials and components that survive hypervelocity dust impacts and the effects of the even smaller particles created in these impacts,” said Jim Kinnison, Parker Solar Probe mission systems engineer at APL. “We modeled the makeup and effects of the dust environment, tested how materials react to the dust particles, and installed fault-tolerant onboard systems that are keeping Parker Solar Probe safe in this unexplored region.”
The spacecraft team has noticed that occasionally, the star tracking cameras used as part of the guidance and control system see reflected light from dust and shattering particles that can momentarily disrupt their ability to see stars. Kinnison noted, however, that this doesn’t compromise the safety of spacecraft or instrument operations, and the star trackers aren’t the spacecraft’s only method of controlling where it points. The guidance and control software uses data from the star trackers in tandem with an inertial measurement unit and solar-limb sensors to keep the Thermal Protection System – the heat shield – pointed toward the Sun.
“Because the system was built to be robust and highly autonomous, loss of data from any one source doesn’t affect the ability to control the spacecraft attitude, and in a worst-case situation, can work indefinitely with just the Solar Limb Sensors that watch for unexpected solar illumination on the spacecraft due to attitude errors,” he said. “With PSP now in its 10th orbit around the Sun, the spacecraft is proving it can handle this unexpected dust environment.”
And that’s good news, he added, with Parker Solar Probe only set to move closer to – and faster around – the Sun. Assisted by two more Venus flybys, in August 2023 and November 2024, Parker Solar Probe will eventually come within 4 million miles (6.2 million kilometers) of the solar surface in December 2024, at speeds topping 430,000 miles per hour.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2021/11/10/space-dust-presents-opportunities-challenges-as-parker-solar-probe-speeds-back-toward-the-sun/
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#152
by
Rondaz
on 12 Nov, 2021 14:40
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.@NASASun’s #ParkerSolarProbe continues its record-breaking journey to Sun. I am pleased by its performance so far and happy to report that it is healthy and performing normally as it heads toward its next closest approach to the Sun on Nov. 21:
https://twitter.com/Dr_ThomasZ/status/1459167923185106946
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#153
by
Rondaz
on 15 Nov, 2021 16:32
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#154
by
Star One
on 15 Nov, 2021 17:06
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#155
by
Rondaz
on 24 Nov, 2021 15:30
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Parker Solar Probe Completes a Record-Setting Swing by the Sun
Miles Hatfield Posted on November 24, 2021
Blazing along at space-record speeds that would get it from Earth to the Moon in under an hour, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe completed its 10th close approach to the Sun on Nov. 21, coming within 5.3 million miles (8.5 million kilometers) of the solar surface.
The close approach (known as perihelion), also at a record distance, occurred at 4:25 a.m. EST (8:25 UTC), with Parker Solar Probe moving 364,660 miles per hour (586,864 kilometers per hour). The milestone also marked the midway point in the mission’s 10th solar encounter, which began Nov. 16 and continues through Nov. 26.
The spacecraft entered the encounter in good health, with all systems operating normally. Parker Solar Probe is scheduled to check back in with mission operators at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland – where it was also designed and built – on Nov 24.
The spacecraft will transmit science data from the encounter – largely covering the properties and structure of the solar wind as well as the dust environment near the Sun – back to Earth from Dec. 23-Jan. 9.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2021/11/24/parker-solar-probe-completes-a-record-setting-swing-by-the-sun/
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#156
by
Rondaz
on 27 Nov, 2021 18:44
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The Parker probe completes the tenth record approach to the Sun
19:25 27 Nov 2021
The Parker solar probe has completed its tenth close approach to the Sun, setting new records for speed and proximity to a star. He was only 8.5 million kilometers from the photosphere, while moving at a maximum speed of 163 kilometers per second, according to the mission's website.
Parker was launched into space in 2018 and has so far made ten encounters with the Sun out of the planned 24. It is conducting research into the solar wind and the outer layers of the Sun, with each subsequent perihelion getting closer to the star. At the end of 2024, the probe will practically enter the Sun's atmosphere, being near the Alfvén point, where the solar wind is accelerating so much that it leaves the star.
On November 16, 2021, the probe began its tenth close encounter with the Sun, and on November 22 flew at a minimum distance of 8.5 million kilometers from the star's photosphere. This is a record value, equivalent to 22 distances from the Earth to the Moon. In this case, the device moved at a speed of 163 kilometers per second relative to the Sun. The tenth rendezvous phase ended on November 26, it is expected that between December 23 and January 9, the probe will transmit all the collected scientific data to Earth.
"Parker" has already made many unique discoveries - he showed the structure of the solar wind, determined the mechanisms of particle acceleration near the Sun, and also saw the trail of the asteroid Phaethon and the circumsolar dust ring near Venus.
For more details on what mysteries the Sun is trying to solve, see the article Towards the Solar Wind .
Alexander Voytyuk
https://nplus1.ru/news/2021/11/27/psp-sun-10-flyby
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#157
by
Rondaz
on 03 Dec, 2021 20:47
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Solar Tour Pit Stop #1: Earth
Miles Hatfield Posted on December 3, 2021
Greetings from Earth!
Our solar tour begins on Earth. From here, one star shines brighter than all the rest. It’s the closest star and the center of our solar system: our Sun. Earth is in the Goldilocks zone, just the right distance from the Sun to be habitable.
A mission to touch the Sun
We can answer some questions about the Sun from 93 million miles away on Earth, but to learn more, we knew we’d have to venture to our nearest star. In 2018, NASA launched Parker Solar Probe, our mission to touch the Sun.
Why won’t it melt?
Flying close to the Sun is risky business (just ask Icarus), but engineers were up to the task. Check out this video to learn how they built a spacecraft that won’t melt, even when it’s heated to temperatures up to 2500° F. Hint: don’t use wax!
Next stop…?
Now, we’re heading south to catch a special event where day becomes night and the Moon is the star of the show. Can you guess what we’ll see?
https://blogs.nasa.gov/sunspot/2021/12/03/solar-tour-pit-stop-1-earth/
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#158
by
Rondaz
on 14 Dec, 2021 13:53
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Solar Tour Pit Stop #11: Near the Sun
Miles Hatfield Posted on December 13, 2021
We’re nearing the end of our solar tour, which means we’re getting closer to the star of the show! We sent Parker Solar Probe to the Sun to investigate some of our star’s biggest mysteries. The closer we get, the more discoveries we make.
The Sun’s hottest mystery
One of the big questions we hope to answer with Parker Solar Probe is the coronal heating problem: the mystery of why the Sun’s atmosphere is much, much hotter than the surface below – just the opposite of what we would expect. In this story, learn more about one of the hottest questions in solar science.
Parker Solar Probe’s first discoveries
So far, Parker Solar Probe’s discoveries include zig-zagging magnetic switchbacks and our solar system’s elusive dust-free zone. Revisit the mission’s first batch of results.
You’re getting warmer…
Now that we’re approaching the Sun, we have just one more stop to go on our solar tour where we have a big announcement!
https://blogs.nasa.gov/sunspot/2021/12/13/solar-tour-pit-stop-11-near-the-sun/
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#159
by
Rondaz
on 14 Dec, 2021 13:54
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5 New Discoveries from NASA's Parker Solar Probe
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#160
by
Star One
on 14 Dec, 2021 19:38
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NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Touches The Sun For The First Time:
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#161
by
Rondaz
on 14 Dec, 2021 22:09
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Hot News from Parker Solar Probe
Thomas Zurbuchen Posted on December 14, 2021
I’m happy to announce today that for the first time ever, a spacecraft has “touched” the Sun. Three years after launch, our Parker Solar Probe has now flown within the Sun’s inner corona, sampling particles and fields still bound to the Sun’s atmosphere.
This monumental achievement is more than 60 years in the making, the goal of a mission concept and dreams of scientists that predate NASA itself. Just as the Moon landings revolutionized our ability to study the Moon and our solar system, our first close encounter with our star marks the beginning of a new phase in solar science, one where we can ask and answer questions that had previously been out of reach.
This milestone is even more meaningful considering that this technologically-advanced spacecraft was named in honor of astrophysicist Dr. Eugene Parker. It is the first and only time a NASA spacecraft has a living individual as its namesake. I chose to advocate for naming this spacecraft after Dr. Parker as a testament to the importance of his entire body of work, work that I felt had been overlooked by many – even though it’s hard to find a scientist with a bigger or broader impact on space science.
At the heart of this work is a story of pioneering science with much perseverance: In 1958, Dr. Parker, a humble but somewhat stubborn mid-westerner, published an article sharing his theory that high-speed matter and magnetic fields were constantly – and supersonically – escaping the Sun. He predicted that this constant torrent of what came to be known as solar wind affected all the planets and space throughout our solar system. This important prediction, and eventual confirmation, ultimately informed our understanding about how stars and other astrophysical objects throughout the whole universe interact with the worlds and space around them. Not only did Dr. Parker’s work introduce a new field of science, he inspired my own research as well as crucial science questions that NASA continues to study to this day. More than 20 missions in heliophysics, planetary sciences, and astrophysics currently focus on scientific fields he significantly affected. Adding Parker Solar Probe to Dr. Parker’s legacy is among my proudest accomplishments and one that is meaningful to me even today.
What it means to “touch” the Sun requires some defining, since the Sun doesn’t have a solid crust like Earth. But it does have an invisible boundary where solar material stops being “stuck” to the Sun, and instead is free to decouple from its source and escape outward as the constantly streaming solar wind. We call this boundary the Alfvén critical surface, named after the Swedish scientist and Nobel Prize winner who made many notable contributions to plasma physics. At the Alfven surface, the solar wind begins to travel faster than the speed of the waves that can couple the wind to the surface of the Sun – which implies a speed where the solar material is traveling fast enough that it can decouple from its source in the solar atmosphere. Freed, the solar wind can now escape into space.
We have long known the Alfvén critical surface exists, but not exactly where it was located or what was within it. Based on remote images of the corona, as well as solar wind measurements in space, estimates had put the boundary somewhere between 10 to 20 solar radii (4.3 to 8.6 million miles) from the photosphere, or solar surface. But we’ve never had a spacecraft close enough to confirm those estimates and we have never gotten close enough to see what’s on the other side.
Until now.
During Parker’s eighth flyby of the Sun on April 28, 2021, the spacecraft passed within 18.8 solar radii (8.127 million miles) of the photosphere when it detected the conditions scientists had long awaited. Parker was passing through what’s known as a pseudostreamer, a giant magnetic loop that extended from the corona, when the magnetic field intensified and particle speeds slowed. A combination of measurements from multiple sensors revealed that Parker had indeed crossed the Alfvén critical surface and was sampling particles that were not part of the supersonic solar wind, but the slower-moving solar atmosphere itself.
So what are we seeing on the other side? For one thing, an answer to a question that Parker Solar Probe identified soon after it launched: What is causing mysterious hairpin bends in the solar wind called “switchbacks”? We have known about switchbacks since the NASA/ESA Ulysses mission in the mid-90s, which observed S-shaped kinks in the solar wind where the Sun’s magnetic field abruptly reversed direction like a magnetic zig-zag. Due to assumptions that the solar wind was fairly stationary, we had suspected these switchbacks were relatively rare phenomena restricted to the Sun’s polar regions.
In 2019, Parker upended those assumptions when it revealed that switchbacks were plentiful in the solar wind, even in regions far from the solar poles. The new observations suggested that switchbacks would tell us more about the Sun than we had expected – but how and where they formed remained unknown.
Parker’s close pass within the solar atmosphere got us close enough to find out. On its sixth flyby, Parker measured clusters of switchbacks and found that the percentage of helium in them matched the composition of solar material at the photosphere, the solar surface. During the same flyby, a different analysis showed that the switchbacks were aligned with magnetic “funnels” in the photosphere. Together, these facts suggest that the switchbacks start near the solar surface, a dynamic, roiling region of solar material and magnetic field that looks somewhat like a searing frying pan of oil at home.
Parker will continue orbiting even closer to the Sun on upcoming flybys, reaching as close as 8.86 solar radii (3.83 million miles) from the surface at its closest approach. The next perihelion in January 2022 will likely pass through the solar atmosphere, the corona once more – meaning we are now in a very exciting time for solar science, a time when we can directly sample the Sun itself. This opens a whole new realm of solar and heliospheric science!
Finally, I want to thank Dr. Eugene Parker for the time he took with me and so many other early career scientists over 20 years ago. May we all take his intellectual courage and steadfast perseverance as an example for us as we move into the new era of science enabled by these new data. And let’s also learn from Parker’s senior colleagues who were less than welcoming of new thought when as an early career scientist, Parker brought forward his novel ideas about the solar wind and its embedded magnetic field. Instead, let’s celebrate new thought and insights, especially if they come from new community members!
https://blogs.nasa.gov/drthomasz/2021/12/14/hot-news-from-parker-solar-probe/
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#162
by
Rondaz
on 14 Dec, 2021 22:10
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NASA's Parker Solar Probe Touches The Sun For The First Time
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#163
by
Rondaz
on 14 Dec, 2021 23:33
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As Parker flew through the solar atmosphere, it scooped up a bit of plasma in a special instrument called a Faraday cup. NASA program scientist and project manager for the instrument Kelly Korreck, shares what it’s been like to be a part of the mission:
https://twitter.com/NASASun/status/1470830955787030531
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#164
by
Rondaz
on 14 Dec, 2021 23:34
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#165
by
eeergo
on 16 Dec, 2021 09:11
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#166
by
Rondaz
on 16 Dec, 2021 09:50
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Parker probe for the first time determined the boundaries of the Sun
13:27 16 Dec. 2021
The Parker solar probe for the first time in history in practice determined the position of the critical surface of Alfvén, which is considered the boundary between the Sun's corona and the free flow of the solar wind. This happened in April this year, when the probe entered the Sun's corona three times. The boundary itself is non-spherical and is located at an average distance of 18.8 times the radius of the Sun from the center of the star. The article was published in the journal Physical Review Letters.
Near the Sun, the behavior of charged particles is controlled by the magnetic field of the star, while the magnetic pressure in the corona exceeds the thermal pressure, and magnetohydrodynamic Alfvén waves propagate in it much faster than sound waves. The magnetic field is believed to be responsible for a number of phenomena occurring in the Sun's atmosphere, such as anomalous heating of the corona, the formation of coronal loops and streamers, and the acceleration of the solar wind.
In order to distinguish the corona plasma, still associated with the Sun, and the free flow of the solar wind, astronomers introduced the concept of the critical surface of Alfvén. Outside it, the radial component of the solar wind speed exceeds the propagation speed of Alfvén waves, and the kinetic energy density of the solar wind is less than the magnetic energy density. Scientists have long been interested in the processes going on in the sub-AlfveÂn area, such mechanisms which may be responsible for heating of the ions in the corona (such as resonance damping of ion-cyclotron waves ), or the phenomenon of inversion of the magnetic field, designated " retransfer» (switchbacks) and described as nonlinear Alfvén waves.
Until recently, only the solar wind flux, no longer associated with the star, was available for spacecraft research. The situation changed in 2018, when the Parker probe was launched into space , which so far has made ten encounters with the Sun out of the planned 24. It is conducting research on the parameters of the solar wind and the outer layers of the star during very close encounters with it.
Solar wind parameters determined by the probe during the eighth approach to the Sun. Regions I1,2,3 mark the moments when "Parker" was below the surface of Alfvén.
JC Kasper et al. / Physical Review Letters, 2021
A group of astronomers led by Justin Kasper from the University of Michigan published the first results of the analysis of the observations of the sub-Alfven solar wind flux, obtained by Parker on April 28, 2021, during the eighth approach to the Sun. The observation session lasted 5 hours, the distance from the apparatus to the center of the star varied from 19.7 to 18.4 of the solar radius. In total, during the rendezvous, there were three events of penetration of the probe into the region below the surface of Alfven, which were the first in history.
Based on the collected data, the scientists were able to reconstruct the volumetric picture of the magnetic field in the region between the Sun photosphere and the probe. It was found that the surface of Alfven is indeed nonspherical and is located at an average distance of 18.8 solar radius from the center of the star. The corona region below this boundary is characterized by an Alfvén Mach number of 0.78 and a magnetic energy that exceeds both the kinetic and thermal energies of charged particles.
Scientists note that when the probe first penetrated the corona, it passed through a stream of solar wind that occurs on rapidly expanding magnetic field lines located above a pseudo streamer, a large-scale structural element of the Sun's corona. The third coronal penetration occurred over the Sun's equatorial coronal hole.
Researchers expect that as Parker gets closer to the Sun, the number of discoveries will increase. In mid-December 2024, the device will approach the Sun to a distance of about 9-10 solar radii.
The Parker probe has already made many discoveries - it showed the structure of the solar wind, determined the mechanisms of particle acceleration near the Sun, and also saw the trail of the asteroid Phaethon and the circumsolar dust ring near Venus.
Aleksnadr Voytyuk
https://nplus1.ru/news/2021/12/16/psp-new-results-sun
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#167
by
Rondaz
on 17 Dec, 2021 18:54
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NASA's Spacecraft "Touched The Sun" - What Does That Mean?
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#168
by
Rondaz
on 10 Feb, 2022 01:10
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See Venus in these new Parker Solar Probe views
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#169
by
AS_501
on 20 Feb, 2022 22:05
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While reading about the massive far-side solar eruption on February 15, I wondered whether PSP was anywhere near this event. It turns out that the probe reached Perhelion 11 just 10 days after the eruption. Had PSP been above the eruption site, could it have been damaged or destroyed? I'm assuming the craft was designed to withstand such an eruption of this magnitude, however unlikely.
Note: Had the Feb. 15 eruption been on the near side, it would have been comparable in strength to the 1859 Carrington Event, which knocked out most telegraph circuits. The damage such an eruption would do today.....let's not go there. I think it's safe to say the current Solar Minimum is coming to an end.
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#170
by
Rondaz
on 03 Mar, 2022 18:53
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Telescopes Trained on Parker Solar Probe’s Latest Pass Around the Sun
Miles Hatfield Posted on March 3, 2022
As NASA’s Parker Solar Probe completes its latest swing around the Sun, it’s doing so in full view of dozens of other spacecraft and ground-based telescopes.
These powerful instruments can’t actually see Parker itself – the van-sized spacecraft is far too small for visible detection – but they offer from a distance what the probe is sensing close-up, as it samples and analyzes the solar wind and magnetic fields from as close as 5.3 million miles (8.5 million kilometers) from the Sun’s surface.
Occurring at 10:36 a.m. EST (15:36 UTC) on Feb. 25, this was the 11th close approach – or perihelion in the spacecraft’s orbit around the Sun – of 24 planned for Parker Solar Probe’s primary mission. Most of these passes occur while the Sun is between the spacecraft and Earth, blocking any direct lines of sight from home. But every few orbits, the dynamics work out to put the spacecraft in Earth’s view – and the Parker mission team seizes these opportunities to organize broad observation campaigns that not only include telescopes on Earth, but several spacecraft as well.
More than 40 observatories around the globe, including the recently commissioned Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii, among other major installations in the southwestern United States, Europe and Asia, are training their visible, infrared and radio telescopes on the Sun over the several weeks around the perihelion. About a dozen spacecraft, including NASA’s STEREO, Solar Dynamics Observatory, TIMED and Magnetospheric Multiscale missions, ESA’s and NASA’s Solar Orbiter, ESA’s BepiColombo, the JAXA-led Hinode, and even NASA’s MAVEN at Mars are making simultaneous observations of activity stretching from the Sun to Earth and beyond.
The pass also marked the midway point in the mission’s 11th solar encounter, which began Feb. 20 and continues through March 2. The spacecraft checked in with mission operators at APL – where Parker Solar Probe was designed and built – on Feb. 28 to report that it was healthy and operating as expected.
Most of the data from this encounter will stream back to Earth from March 30 through May 1, though the team will get a glimpse of some readings when the spacecraft sends a limited amount of data this week.
Solar Activity Picks Up
Parker Solar Probe is expected to dip back into the Sun’s outer atmosphere – the corona – continuing the solar wind and magnetic field readings it has taken since before it first “touched the Sun” last year.
Along with that data, scientists eagerly anticipate a look at what Parker Solar Probe recorded from the large solar prominence on Feb. 15 that blasted tons of charged particles in the spacecraft’s direction. Project Scientist Nour Raouafi of the Space Exploration Sector, said it was the largest event Parker Solar Probe has experienced during its first three-and-a-half years in flight.
“The shock from the event hit Parker Solar Probe head-on, but the spacecraft was built to withstand activity just like this – to get data in the most extreme conditions,” he said. “And with the Sun getting more and more active, we can’t wait to see the data that Parker Solar Probe gathers as it gets closer and closer.”
Assisted by a pair of orbit-shaping Venus flybys in August 2023 and November 2024, Parker Solar Probe will eventually come within 4 million miles (6.2 million kilometers) of the solar surface in December 2024 at speeds topping 430,000 miles per hour. Follow the probe’s trek through the inner solar system.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2022/03/03/telescopes-trained-on-parker-solar-probes-latest-pass-around-the-sun/
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#171
by
Athelstane
on 16 Mar, 2022 12:44
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#172
by
Star One
on 16 Mar, 2022 15:43
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NASA Goddard tribute to Eugene Parker:
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#173
by
Targeteer
on 16 Mar, 2022 21:13
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March 16, 2022
RELEASE 22-025
NASA Mourns Passing of Visionary Heliophysicist Eugene Parker
Dr. Eugene N. Parker, visionary of heliophysics and namesake of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, has passed away. He was 94.
Dr. Eugene Parker watches the launch of the spacecraft that bears his name – NASA’s Parker Solar Probe – early in the morning of Aug. 12, 2018. NASA Director of Heliophysics Dr. Nicky Fox stands behind him. Parker Solar Probe is humanity’s first mission to the Sun and will travel closer to our star than any spacecraft before.
Credits: NASA/Glenn Benson
As a young professor at the University of Chicago in the mid-1950s, Parker developed a mathematical theory that predicted the solar wind, the constant outflow of solar material from the Sun. Throughout his career, Parker revolutionized the field time and again, advancing ideas that addressed the fundamental questions about the workings of our Sun and stars throughout the universe.
“We were saddened to learn the news that one of the great scientific minds and leaders of our time has passed,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “Dr. Eugene Parker’s contributions to science and to understanding how our universe works touches so much of what we do here at NASA. Dr. Parker’s legacy will live on through the many active and future NASA missions that build upon his work.”
“The field of heliophysics exists in large part because of Dr. Eugene Parker,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s associate administrator for science. “Honoring his work by giving Parker Solar Probe his name is one of the proudest accomplishments of my career. My work, my passion for science, and my drive to keep exploring is strongly influenced by this great man. Parker Solar Probe ‘touching the Sun,’ is a fitting accomplishment for his namesake mission.”
In 2018, Parker became the first person to witness the launch of a spacecraft bearing his name. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe continues its mission today in pursuit of the pioneering questions Parker first envisaged more than a half century ago.
“Anyone who knew Dr. Parker, knew that he was a visionary,” said Nicola Fox, director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “I was honored to stand with him at the launch of Parker Solar Probe and have loved getting to share with him all the exciting science results, seeing his face light up with every new image and data plot I showed him. I will sincerely miss his excitement and love for Parker Solar Probe. Even though Dr. Parker is no longer with us, his discoveries and legacy will live forever.”
Learn more about Parker Solar Probe and its mission at:
https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/parker-solar-probe
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#174
by
Rondaz
on 29 Apr, 2022 16:34
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Amazing Achievements From Parker Solar Probe
Miles Hatfield Posted on April 29, 2022
In 2018, NASA launched Parker Solar Probe on an unprecedented mission to study the Sun up close. The mission was defined with three key scientific goals:
To trace the flow of energy that heats the Sun’s outer atmosphere.
To shed light on the sources of the solar wind, the constant flow of solar material escaping from the Sun.
To explore how solar energetic particles – which can make the 93-million mile (150 million kilometer) journey to Earth in under an hour – are transported and accelerated.
Now four years after launch, the mission has made inroads towards achieving these key goals and more. As Parker Solar Probe continues its mission, it continues to break records and capture first-of-its-kind measurements of the Sun.
Here are the need-to-know facts about NASA’s historic mission to touch the Sun.
1. Parker Solar Probe was the first NASA mission named for a living person.
In honor of Eugene Parker, eminent physicist who first predicted the solar wind, NASA announced in May 2017, that it would rename the Solar Probe Plus mission to Parker Solar Probe. Parker witnessed the spacecraft’s launch in person and the discoveries made in the mission’s few years. He passed away on March 15, 2022, at age 94.
2. The spacecraft carries revolutionary technology.
The mission was conceived in 1958, but it took 60 years to develop the technology to make it happen. Designed and built at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, Parker Solar Probe carries a heat shield, autonomous onboard “smarts” to keep the spacecraft facing the Sun, and an efficient cooling system.
3. It’s a repeated record-breaker.
Just a few months after launch, Parker Solar Probe became the closest human-made object to the Sun, passing within 26.55 million miles (42.72 million kilometers) from the Sun’s surface, and became the fastest human-made object, reaching speeds of 153,454 miles per hour. Since then, it has repeatedly broken both of those records, and will reach a top speed of about 430,000 miles per hour (700,000 kilometers per hour) as it flies to within 3.9 million miles (6.2 million kilometers) of the Sun’s surface in 2024. See where Parker Solar Probe is in real time here.
4. Parker Solar Probe has officially sampled the Sun.
In December 2021, NASA announced that Parker Solar Probe had achieved its cornerstone objective: making the first measurements from within the atmosphere of a star.
5. It’s made game-changing discoveries.
Parker Solar Probe carries four instrument suites, and each is now credited with several groundbreaking discoveries. A small sample of them is described below.
The Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons investigation (SWEAP)
Surveying where Sun becomes solar wind
When Parker Solar Probe entered the solar atmosphere, it made the first-ever crossing of what’s known as the Alfvén critical surface – the boundary where solar material anchored to the Sun first escapes and becomes the solar wind.
Until this crossing, no one knew what that boundary would look like. During its first pass close enough to cross the boundary, Parker Solar Probe passed into and out of the corona several times. This revealed key information about the boundary’s shape, revealing that the Alfvén critical surface wasn’t shaped like a smooth ball. Rather, it has spikes and valleys that wrinkle the surface.
The SWEAP instrument established that the wrinkles were due to coronal streamers – giant plumes of solar material rising through the Sun’s atmosphere. Streamers have long been observed by Sun-watching spacecraft near Earth, but never before measured directly. The results are reshaping what we know about the Sun’s atmosphere and how it transforms into the solar wind.
The Wide-Field Imager for Parker Solar Probe (WISPR)
The first hints of a dust-free zone
Dust is just about everywhere in our solar system — the remnants of collisions that formed planets, asteroids, comets and other celestial bodies billions of years ago. Almost a century ago, astronomer Henry Norris Russell predicted that there should a region around the Sun where dust particles should get hot enough to sublimate and thus disappear, creating a dust-free zone. People looked for evidence of the sublimation zone for decades but there was no consistent evidence for its existence whatsoever.
The WISPR instrument made the first detection of dust depleting close to the Sun, observing the light reflected from dust dimming at about 19 solar radii (8.2 million miles, or 13.2 million kilometers, away from the Sun). Models of the results suggest that a dust-free zone should exist starting at about 5 solar radii (2.2 million miles, or 3.5 million kilometers, from the Sun).
FIELDS
Tracking down the Sun’s magnetic reversals
When Parker Solar Probe sent back the first observations from its voyage to the Sun, scientists found their magnetic field measurements spiked with what became known as switchbacks: rapid flips in the Sun’s magnetic field that reversed direction like a zig-zagging mountain road.
FIELDS has since helped narrow down their origins. During Parker Solar Probe’s 6th flyby of the Sun, FIELDS data revealed that the switchbacks aligned with magnetic “funnels” in the solar surface. These funnels emerge from between structures called supergranules – giant bubbles on the Sun in which hot plasma from the solar interior rises up, spreads out across the surface, cools and then sinks back down. The magnetic geometry of these regions suggests that magnetic reconnection powers the solar wind.
While the new findings locate where switchbacks are made, the question of how they’re formed is still a matter of active research.
The Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun (ISʘIS)
Rewriting the book on solar energetic particles
ISʘIS, pronounced “ee-sis” and including the symbol for the Sun in its acronym, measures solar energetic particles, the most energetic particles that escape the Sun. Measured near Earth, solar energetic particles events are relatively rare and hard to predict. But detecting SEPs close to the Sun, ISʘIS has changed just about everything we know about these speedy particles.
ISʘIS has found that SEPs are much more common than expected, that they contain a wider range of types of particles than expected, and that their paths from the Sun are not as direct as previously thought – they can be disrupted by the switchbacks detected by fields and can at times follow a path twice as long as expected. By measuring these events so close to the Sun, ISʘIS is detecting events so small that all trace of them is lost before they reach Earth, helping scientists develop a fuller picture of where they come from and how they’re accelerated away from the Sun.
…And the results keep coming.
Each new dataset expands the limits of space science – and it’s not just about the Sun. Parker Solar Probe has also studied comets, detected radio emissions from Venus’ atmosphere, and even captured the first-ever images of Venus’ surface in visible wavelengths.
With its closest pass of the Sun still ahead in 2024, only time will tell what new discoveries await.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2022/04/29/amazing-achievements-from-parker-solar-probe/
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#175
by
Rondaz
on 02 Jun, 2022 21:51
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Parker Solar Probe Completes 12th Perihelion
Abbey Interrante Posted on June 2, 2022
Matching its own records for speed and distance to the Sun, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe completed its 12th close approach to the Sun on June 1, coming within 5.3 million miles (8.5 million kilometers) of the solar surface.
The close approach (known as perihelion) occurred at 6:50 p.m. EDT (10:50 p.m. UTC), with Parker Solar Probe moving about 364,660 miles per hour (586,860 kilometers per hour) – fast enough to cover the distance between Los Angeles and London in under a minute. The milestone also marked the midway point in the mission’s 12th solar encounter, which began May 27 and continues through June 7.
The spacecraft entered the encounter in good health, with all systems operating normally. Parker Solar Probe is scheduled to check back in with mission operators at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland – where it was also designed and built – on June 4.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2022/06/02/parker-solar-probe-completes-12th-perihelion/
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#176
by
Rondaz
on 12 Aug, 2022 23:50
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Parker Solar Probe Thriving Four Years after Launch
Abbey Interrante Posted on August 12, 2022
As it orbits the Sun, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe encounters some of the most challenging conditions ever faced by a spacecraft: temperatures up to nearly 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit (800 degrees Celsius), space dust that could easily degrade materials and instruments, and intense light and high-speed particles escaping from our closest star.
But four years after launch, the spacecraft is operating exceptionally well and sending back more than twice the planned amount of science data.
“Despite operating in such an extreme environment, Parker is performing well beyond our expectations,” said Helene Winters, Parker Solar Probe project manager at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. “The spacecraft and its payload are making spectacular observations that will revolutionize our understanding of the Sun and the heliosphere, and that is a testament to the innovation and tireless dedication of the team.”
Building a spacecraft to withstand these conditions for years was a monumental challenge. The mission team at APL had to prepare the spacecraft to operate in an environment that had never been explored before. Parker has weathered it all while flying approximately 2.7 billion miles (4.4 billion kilometers) — roughly the distance from the Sun to Neptune — and doing it faster than any mission before. By comparison, NASA’s New Horizons — the APL-led mission that captured the first images of Pluto — took 8 1/2 years to fly the same distance.
“We designed to worst-case assumptions for things like the thermal environment and the effects of solar radiation on the spacecraft,” said Jim Kinnison, the Parker Solar Probe mission systems engineer at APL. “We’re pleased that all the hard work during the design phase to define those worst-case assumptions has paid off.”
The spacecraft’s stellar performance has opened the door for the team to optimize the amount of science returned from the mission.
“Our telecommunications links are more robust than our worst-case predictions, allowing us to downlink at higher bit rates,” said Kinnison. “As a result, the scientists have been able to collect and downlink about three times more data than planned before launch. This means we’re able to study the Sun in more detail during each encounter but also greatly increase science return when we’re farther away. It also means we can collect data in special circumstances like Venus flybys, well beyond our basic science objectives.”
Over the course of the mission, Parker has sent back roughly 2.8 terabytes of scientific data, approximately equivalent to the amount of data in 200 hours of 4K video. Scientists worldwide will use this data for years to come to develop a better understanding of the Sun’s effects on Earth and our solar system.
“I couldn’t be happier with how the mission is going,” said John Wirzburger, the Parker spacecraft systems engineer at APL. “The spacecraft is operating normally, we’re well within all of our performance margins, and we have plenty of propellant to fly for a long time. Everything is working at least as well, if not better, than expected and modeled on the ground.”
Next month, Parker will complete its 13th perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun in this orbit. During that encounter, it will fly through the Sun’s upper atmosphere, the corona, for the sixth time.
That environment, though, is getting only more extreme. Parker makes its 13th approach as the Sun’s activity ramps up prior to solar maximum in 2025 — activity that NASA has reported is already exceeding predictions. This means there are more sunspots, solar flares, and solar eruptions than predicted. However, according to Wirzburger, the Parker team is not concerned about the spacecraft’s continued performance.
“Parker was designed to handle things like radiation and solar flares,” he said. “As some of the bigger solar flares have been released, the spacecraft has weathered the storm each time without issue.”
“Exploration is inherently risky, but the spacecraft has proven to be robust and able to autonomously keep itself safe,” added Kinnison. “We’re looking forward to the rest of the mission, and that closest perihelion at the end of the primary mission.”
By Ashley Hume
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2022/08/12/parker-solar-probe-thriving-four-years-after-launch/
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#177
by
jackvancouver
on 13 Aug, 2022 02:37
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So I have a question:
Why a microSD card for the list of names on the spacecraft plaque? The issue with NAND memory is that the smaller things get, the more sensitive it is to a cosmic ray striking a bit and flipping it.
If you look at how camera sensors on the ISS are doing, that kind of thing manifesting itself as flipped bits on the memory is a very real possibility.
NAND is also based on storing an electrical charge, which means it's less effective at retaining the charge if you don't refresh the bits with a SD card host. Magnetic media like hard drives in the right circumstance can last longer than NAND.
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#178
by
jimvela
on 13 Aug, 2022 03:06
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[I have no connection to the mission...]
That card is symbolic. It isn't meant to actually have data retrieved.
In that orbit, after end of mission, the entire spacecraft will rapidly disintegrate- so it doesn't really matter what storage media was used. Might as well use one that is cheap and relatively dense.
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#179
by
Rondaz
on 16 Aug, 2022 00:35
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Happy 4th birthday to @NASASun's Parker Solar Probe!
As it travels through the Sun's atmosphere, Parker has faced temperatures up to nearly 1500 F (800 C), space dust that could degrade materials and instruments, and intense light and high-speed particles from our Sun.
https://twitter.com/NASAGoddard/status/1559246044050907137
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#180
by
Rondaz
on 16 Aug, 2022 00:36
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Parker has handled the extreme conditions so well that the science team has collected nearly 3 times more data than they'd hoped for. Learn what's next for the intrepid solar explorer as it prepares for its 13th approach during an intense solar maximum:
https://twitter.com/NASAGoddard/status/1559246072429613059
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#181
by
Rondaz
on 01 Sep, 2022 01:54
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Parker Solar Probe’s Upcoming Close Encounter with a Highly Active Sun
Denise Hill Posted on August 31, 2022
NASA reported earlier this summer that Solar Cycle 25 is already exceeding predictions for solar activity, even with solar maximum not to come for another three years. In recent days, a sunspot the size of Earth has rapidly developed on the Sun, and the star has given off multiple solar flares and geomagnetic storms.
“The Sun has changed completely since we launched Parker Solar Probe during solar minimum when it was very quiet,” said Nour Raouafi, Parker Solar Probe project scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. “When the Sun changes, it also changes the environment around it. The activity at this time is way higher than we expected.”
Raouafi expects the high level of solar activity to continue as Parker approaches this perihelion, just 5.3 million miles from the Sun. The spacecraft has yet to fly through a solar event like a solar flare or a coronal mass ejection (CME) during one of its close encounters, but that may change this coming month. The resulting data would be groundbreaking.
“Nobody has ever flown through a solar event so close to the Sun before,” Raouafi said. “The data would be totally new, and we would definitely learn a lot from it.”
Though the spacecraft has not flown through a solar event, Parker’s Wide-field Imager for Solar Probe (WISPR) instrument has imaged a small number of CMEs from a distance, including five during the spacecraft’s 10th encounter with the Sun in November 2021. These observations have already led to unexpected discoveries about the structure of CMEs.
All of Parker’s observations aid in the effort to understand the physics of the Sun, helping better predict space weather, which can affect electric grids, communications and navigation systems, astronauts and satellites in space, and more.
Although the Sun is much more active than during previous close encounters, Parker’s mission operators are not concerned about adverse effects to the spacecraft.
“Parker Solar Probe is built to withstand whatever the Sun can throw at it,” said Doug Rodgers, APL’s science operations center coordinator for the mission. “Every orbit is different, but the mission is a well-oiled machine at this point.”
While they will have very little contact with the spacecraft during its 10-day encounter, they have conducted routine operations to prepare, including readying the instruments, freeing up onboard memory space for new observations, and testing and pre-loading commands to operate the spacecraft while it’s out of contact. They have also coordinated observation times with Solar Orbiter, an ESA (European Space Agency)/NASA mission that will view the Sun from the same angle as Parker, but 58.5 million miles farther from the Sun’s surface.
Parker’s observations do not always overlap with those of other observatories, such as Solar Orbiter or Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory-A (STEREO-A), another NASA solar probe. But when they do, it offers significant advantages.
“By combining the data from multiple space missions and even ground observatories, we can understand the bigger picture,” Raouafi said. “In this case, with both Parker and Solar Orbiter observing the Sun from different distances, we will be able to study the evolution of the solar wind, gathering data as it passes one spacecraft and then the other.”
This is not the first time Parker and Solar Orbiter have been in alignment for one of Parker’s perihelions. Scientists have used data from previous alignments of the two spacecraft to produce multiple peer-reviewed papers on solar phenomena observed by both missions.
While this perihelion promises to be exciting due to high solar activity, Raouafi is already looking ahead to future close encounters.
“While the Sun was quiet, we did three years of great science,” he said. “But our view of the solar wind and the corona will be totally different now, and we’re very curious to see what we’ll learn next.”
Parker Solar Probe is part of NASA’s Living with a Star program to explore aspects of the Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. The Living with a Star program is managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Johns Hopkins APL designed, built, and operates the spacecraft.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2022/08/31/parker-solar-probes-upcoming-close-encounter-with-a-highly-active-sun/
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#182
by
libra
on 01 Sep, 2022 08:32
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If that thing survives a CME that close from the Sun, it is really a tribute to how radiation-armored it wa build.
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#183
by
Rondaz
on 13 Dec, 2022 18:14
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Parker Solar Probe Embarks on 14th Close Encounter with the Sun
Denise Hill Posted on December 13, 2022
On Dec. 6, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe began the 14th of 24 planned close approaches to the Sun, eventually coming within 5.3 million miles of the solar surface.
The closest approach – called perihelion – occurred on Dec. 11 at 8:16 a.m. EST, during which the spacecraft traveled at 364,639 miles per hour – fast enough to fly from New York to Tokyo in just over a minute. This is just under Parker’s record speed of 364,660 mph, set on Nov. 21, 2021.
During the spacecraft’s previous close encounter with the Sun on Sept. 5, it flew through one of the most powerful coronal mass ejections in recorded history. As the Sun’s activity continues to increase on its approach toward solar maximum – the period of greatest activity during the Sun’s 11-year cycle – scientists expect Parker to fly through and observe more exciting phenomena from its unprecedented vantage point.
“It’s a very exciting time to have a spacecraft flying so close to the Sun and observing its activity,” said Nour Raouafi, Parker Solar Probe project scientist at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. “The first part of the mission was during the solar cycle minimum, when we learned so much about the relatively quiet conditions in the solar atmosphere. Now Parker Solar Probe embarks on a renewed journey where the Sun is more active. Every close encounter opens up new opportunities to understand better how the Sun works and how it affects us here on Earth and beyond.”
During the encounter, which ends Dec. 16, the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter, NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory-A (STEREO-A), and radar telescopes on Earth will view the Sun from the same angle as Parker at the beginning of the encounter. They will slowly progress to an approximately 90-degree angle from Parker on the inbound side of the encounter. ESA’s BepiColombo mission will start out viewing the Sun from the same angle as Parker and progress to observing the Sun from an approximately 90-degree angle from Parker on the outbound side of the encounter. This orientation could provide an opportunity to observe a solar event from all sides.
The spacecraft entered the encounter in good health, with all systems operating normally. Parker Solar Probe is scheduled to check back in with mission operators at Johns Hopkins APL – where it was also designed and built – on Dec. 17.
Parker Solar Probe was developed as part of NASA’s Living With a Star program to explore aspects of the Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. The Living With a Star program is managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. APL designed, built, manages, and operates the spacecraft.
By Ashley Hume
Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2022/12/13/parker-solar-probe-embarks-on-14th-close-encounter-with-the-sun/
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#184
by
russianhalo117
on 06 Mar, 2023 18:21
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NASA Notes Parker Solar Probe Instrument Temporarily Offline
An instrument on NASA’s Parker Solar Probe was powered off by the spacecraft autonomy system on Feb. 12. It happened during the application of an approved flight software patch to the Energetic Particle Instrument (EPI-Hi). The instrument team determined the instrument was power cycled prematurely before the patch was completely loaded.
The instrument will remain off for several weeks as the geometry between the spacecraft, Sun, and Earth currently prevents a good uplink. The EPI-Hi is expected to return to normal operations after this blackout period, before the spacecraft begins its 15th close encounter with the Sun on March 12.
The overall spacecraft remains healthy and is functioning as expected and the operation of other Parker instruments has not been impacted.
Author Denise Hill
Posted on February 17, 2023
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2023/02/17/nasa-notes-parker-solar-probe-instrument-temporarily-offline/
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#185
by
Targeteer
on 08 Jun, 2023 09:23
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https://news.berkeley.edu/2023/06/07/parker-solar-probe-flies-into-the-fast-solar-wind-and-finds-its-source/Parker Solar Probe flies into the fast solar wind and finds its source
By Robert Sanders, Media relations| June 7, 2023
a satellite hovering over an angry red sun
Artist’s concept of the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft approaching the sun. Launched in 2018, the probe is increasing our ability to forecast major space-weather events that impact life on Earth. (Image credit: NASA)
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has flown close enough to the sun to detect the fine structure of the solar wind close to where it is generated at the sun’s surface, revealing details that are lost as the wind exits the corona as a uniform blast of charged particles.
It’s like seeing jets of water emanating from a showerhead through the blast of water hitting you in the face.
In a paper to be published this week in the journal Nature, a team of scientists led by Stuart D. Bale, a professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, and James Drake of the University of Maryland-College Park, report that the Parker Solar Probe has detected streams of high-energy particles that match the supergranulation flows within coronal holes, which suggests that these are the regions where the so-called “fast” solar wind originates.
Coronal holes are areas where magnetic field lines emerge from the surface without looping back inward, thus forming open field lines that expand outward and fill most of space around the sun. These holes are usually at the poles during the sun’s quiet periods, so the fast solar wind they generate doesn’t hit Earth. But when the sun becomes active every 11 years as its magnetic field flips, these holes appear all over the surface, generating bursts of solar wind aimed directly at Earth.
Understanding how and where the solar wind originates will help predict solar storms that, while producing beautiful auroras on Earth, can also wreak havoc with satellites and the electrical grid.
“Winds carry lots of information from the sun to Earth, so understanding the mechanism behind the sun’s wind is important for practical reasons on Earth,” Drake said. “That’s going to affect our ability to understand how the sun releases energy and drives geomagnetic storms, which are a threat to our communication networks.”
amber colored map of sun's surface, with dark and bright regions
A flattened map of the sun’s entire surface, or corona, imaged in extreme ultraviolet wavelengths by the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite. The two dark regions below the middle of the image are the coronal holes sampled by the Parker Solar Probe. Within these coronal holes, flows in the solar atmosphere create intense, complex magnetic fields that annihilate and produce the pressure and energy to overcome solar gravity and send high-energy particles outward — the fast solar wind. The funnels of intense magnetic field where the fast solar wind actually originates — large convection cells called supergranulations — are not visible inside the coronal holes. (Image courtesy of NASA)
Based on the team’s analysis, the coronal holes are like showerheads, with roughly evenly spaced jets emerging from bright spots where magnetic field lines funnel into and out of the surface of the sun. The scientists argue that when oppositely directed magnetic fields pass one another in these funnels, which can be 18,000 miles across, the fields often break and reconnect, slinging charged particles out of the sun.
“The photosphere is covered by convection cells, like in a boiling pot of water, and the larger scale convection flow is called supergranulation,” Bale said. “Where these supergranulation cells meet and go downward, they drag the magnetic field in their path into this downward kind of funnel. The magnetic field becomes very intensified there because it’s just jammed. It’s kind of a scoop of magnetic field going down into a drain. And the spatial separation of those little drains, those funnels, is what we’re seeing now with solar probe data.”
Based on the presence of some extremely high-energy particles that the Parker Solar Probe has detected — particles traveling 10 to 100 times faster than the solar wind average — the researchers conclude that the wind could only be made by this process, which is called magnetic reconnection. The probe was launched in 2018 primarily to resolve two conflicting explanations for the origin of the high-energy particles that comprise the solar wind: magnetic reconnection or acceleration by plasma or Alfvén waves.
“The big conclusion is that it’s magnetic reconnection within these funnel structures that’s providing the energy source of the fast solar wind,” Bale said. “It doesn’t just come from everywhere in a coronal hole, it’s substructured within coronal holes to these supergranulation cells. It comes from these little bundles of magnetic energy that are associated with the convection flows. Our results, we think, are strong evidence that it’s reconnection that’s doing that.”
The funnel structures likely correspond to the bright jetlets that can be seen from Earth within coronal holes, as reported recently by Nour Raouafi, a co-author of the study and the Parker Solar Probe project scientist at the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University. APL, located in Laurel, Maryland, designed, built, manages and operates the spacecraft.
“Solving the mystery of the solar wind has been a six-decade dream of many generations of scientists,” said Raouafi. “Now, we are grasping at the physical phenomenon that drives the solar wind at its source — the corona.”
Plunging into the sun
By the time the solar wind reaches Earth, 93 million miles from the sun, it has evolved into a homogeneous, turbulent flow of roiling magnetic fields intertwined with charged particles that interact with Earth’s own magnetic field and dump electrical energy into the upper atmosphere. This excites atoms, producing colorful auroras at the poles, but has effects that trickle down into Earth’s atmosphere. Predicting the most intense winds, called solar storms, and their near-Earth consequences is one mission of NASA’s Living With a Star program, which funded Parker.
same image of the sun with features marked by red and blue lines and white diamonds
The previous image marked with colored lines that indicate the boundaries of the open field lines (outward-pointing is red, inward-pointing is blue) as predicted by a computer model. These regions correspond well to the coronal holes in the EUV map. The white boxes show the points of origin of the magnetic field lines that the Parker Solar Probe passed through as it traveled across the sun’s surface.
The probe was designed to determine what this turbulent wind looks like where it’s generated near the sun’s surface, or photosphere, and how the wind’s charged particles — protons, electrons and heavier ions, primarily helium nuclei — are accelerated to escape the sun’s gravity.
To do this, Parker had to get closer than 25 to 30 solar radii, that is, closer than about 13 million miles.
“Once you get below that altitude, 25 or 30 solar radii or so, there’s a lot less evolution of the solar wind, and it’s more structured — you see more of the imprints of what was on the sun,” Bale said.
In 2021, Parker’s instruments recorded magnetic field switchbacks in the Alfvén waves that seemed to be associated with the regions where the solar wind is generated. By the time the probe reached about 12 solar radii from the surface of the sun — 5.2 million miles — the data were clear that the probe was passing through jets of material, rather than mere turbulence. Bale, Drake and their colleagues traced these jets back to the supergranulation cells in the photosphere, where magnetic fields bunch up and funnel into the sun.
But were the charged particles being accelerated in these funnels by magnetic reconnection, which would slingshot particles outward, or by waves of hot plasma — ionized particles and magnetic field — streaming out of the sun, as if they’re surfing a wave?
The fact that Parker detected extremely high-energy particles in these jets — tens to hundreds of kiloelectron volts (keV), versus a few keV for most solar wind particles — told Bale that it has to be magnetic reconnection that accelerates the particles and generates the Alfvén waves, which likely give the particles an extra boost.
“Our interpretation is that these jets of reconnection outflow excite Alfvén waves as they propagate out,” Bale said. “That’s an observation that’s well known from Earth’s magnetotail, as well, where you have similar kind of processes. I don’t understand how wave damping can produce these hot particles up to hundreds of keV, whereas it comes naturally out of the reconnection process. And we see it in our simulations, too. ”
The Parker Solar Probe won’t be able to get any closer to the sun than about 8.8 solar radii above the surface — about 4 million miles — without frying its instruments. Bale expects to solidify the team’s conclusions with data from that altitude, though the sun is now entering solar maximum, when activity becomes much more chaotic and may obscure the processes the scientists are trying to view.
“There was some consternation at the beginning of the solar probe mission that we’re going to launch this thing right into the quietest, most dull part of the solar cycle,” Bale said. “But I think without that, we would never have understood this. It would have been just too messy. I think we’re lucky that we launched it in the solar minimum.”
The work was funded by NASA (Contract NNN06AA01C).
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#186
by
Blackstar
on 10 Jun, 2023 00:35
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#187
by
Targeteer
on 04 Jul, 2023 07:34
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Parker Solar Probe Completes 16th Science Encounter
Posted on 06/29/2023 20:34:19
NASA's Parker Solar Probe has completed its 16th science orbit, which included a close approach to the Sun (known as perihelion) that brought it within just 5.3 million miles of the solar surface on June 22 while moving at 364,610 miles per hour.
The mission team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, noted the close approach was preceded by a small trajectory correction maneuver (TCM) on June 7 — the first course correction since March 2022. Mission Design and Navigation Manager Yanping Guo of APL said TCMs are performed periodically to ensure that the spacecraft remains on course, and the latest maneuver kept Parker on track to hit the "aim point" for the mission's sixth Venus flyby on Aug. 21.
The team will continue monitoring Parker's progress to determine if any other such maneuvers will be necessary over the next several months as the spacecraft prepares for this flyby, Guo added. The August flyby will be the sixth of seven anticipated flybys of Venus, with Parker using the planet's gravity to tighten its orbit around the Sun and set up a perihelion within 4.5 million miles from the Sun's surface.
"The burn performance was spot on, which sets us up well for targeting our next Venus flyby," said APL's Nick Pinkine, Parker Solar Probe mission operations manager, adding that the spacecraft emerged from the maneuver and flyby healthy and operating normally.
"Parker has already taught us so much, allowing us to investigate the source of the solar wind and discover more about the magnetic activity within the corona," said Nour Raouafi, Parker Solar Probe project scientist at APL. "We're excited to see what else this mission has to show us as Parker gets even closer to an increasingly more active Sun."
Parker Solar Probe was developed as part of NASA's Living With a Star program to explore aspects of the Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. The Living With a Star program is managed by the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. APL designed, built and operates the spacecraft and manages the mission for NASA.
- Erin Copland, Johns Hopkins APL
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#188
by
Targeteer
on 16 Aug, 2023 13:38
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http://parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/Show-Article.php?articleID=188Parker Solar Probe
Course Correction Keeps Parker Solar Probe on Track for Venus Flyby
Posted on 08/09/2023 16:26:17
NASA's Parker Solar Probe executed a short maneuver on Aug. 3 that kept the spacecraft on track to hit the aim point for the mission's sixth Venus flyby on Aug. 21.
Operating on preprogrammed commands from mission control at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, Parker fired its small thrusters for 4.5 seconds, enough to adjust its trajectory by 77 miles and speed up – by 1.4 seconds – its closest approach to Venus. The precise timing and position are critical to that flyby, the sixth of seven approaches in which Parker uses the planet's gravity to tighten its orbit around the Sun.
"Parker’s velocity is nearly 9 miles per second, so in terms of changing the spacecraft's speed and direction, this trajectory correction maneuver may seem insignificant," said Yanping Guo, mission design and navigation manager at APL. "However, the maneuver is critical to get us the desired gravity assist at Venus, which will significantly change Parker’s speed and distance to the Sun."
Parker Solar Probe will be moving 394,742 miles per hour when it comes to within just 4.5 million miles from the Sun's surface – breaking its own record for speed and solar distance – on Sept. 27. Follow the spacecraft's journey through the inner solar system on the Parker Solar Probe website.
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben
High-Res Image
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#189
by
Targeteer
on 25 Aug, 2023 00:55
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https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/?fbclid=IwAR0Aa7uYe9UrUOs5ON3WIkctOwq-FWRtQVTdGyf1rLZkRBDKd3pepGHhAKMNASA’s Parker Solar Probe zoomed past Venus on Aug. 21, using the planet’s gravity to aim toward a record-setting series of flights around the Sun that start next month.
At just before 8:03 a.m. EDT, moving approximately 15 miles (more than 24 kilometers) per second, Parker Solar Probe passed 2,487 miles (4,003 kilometers) above the Venusian surface as it curved around the planet toward the inner solar system. The mission operations team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, kept in contact with the spacecraft during the flyby through NASA’s Deep Space Network – except for an expected 8 minutes at closest approach, when Venus was between Earth and Parker – and determined the spacecraft was on course and operating normally.
“Parker Solar Probe remains on track to make its closest flybys yet of the Sun,” said Nick Pinkine, Parker Solar Probe mission operations manager from APL. “Parker’s success is a tribute to the entire mission team, but I’m especially proud of the mission operators and the job they’ve done over the past five years to ensure the flawless operation of this incredible, history-making spacecraft.”
Venus gravity assists are essential to guiding Parker Solar Probe progressively closer to the Sun; the spacecraft relies on the planet to reduce its orbital energy, which in turn allows it to travel closer to the Sun – where, since 2018, it has been exploring the origins and unlocking the secrets of the solar wind and other properties of the near-Sun environment at their source.
This was the Parker mission’s sixth of seven planned Venus gravity assists. This week’s flyby served as an orbit maneuver applying a velocity change – called “delta-V” – on Parker Solar Probe, reducing its orbital speed by about 5,932 miles per hour (9,547 kilometers per hour). The maneuver changed the spacecraft’s orbit and set Parker Solar Probe up for its next five close passes by the Sun, the first of which occurs on Sept. 27. On each close approach (known as perihelion), Parker Solar Probe will set or match its own speed and distance records when it comes to within just 4.5 million miles (7.3 million kilometers) from the solar surface, while moving close to 394,800 miles per hour.
Parker Solar Probe was developed as part of NASA’s Living With a Star program to explore aspects of the Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. The Living With a Star program is managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. APL designed, built, and operates the spacecraft and manages the mission for NASA.
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#190
by
Star One
on 03 Oct, 2023 11:15
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Venus may be a (slightly) gentler place than some scientists give it credit for.
In new research, space physicists at CU Boulder have jumped into a surprisingly long-running debate in solar system science: Does lightning strike on the second planet from the sun?
The team’s results add strong new evidence suggesting that, no, you probably wouldn’t see bolts of lightning flashing from Venus’ thick, acidic clouds—or, at least, not very often.
…
When the researchers analyzed a set of those whistlers, however, they noticed something surprising: Venus’ whistler waves were headed the wrong way. They seemed to be moving down toward the planet, not out into space like you’d expect from a lightning storm.
“They were heading backward from what everybody had been imagining for the last 40 years,” Malaspina said.
What is causing these backward whistlers isn’t clear. George and Malaspina suspect that they may emerge from a phenomenon called magnetic reconnection—in which the twisting magnetic field lines that surround Venus come apart then snap back together with explosive results.
https://www.colorado.edu/today/2023/10/02/does-lightning-strike-venus-maybe-not-study-suggestsRelated paper:
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2023GL105426
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#191
by
russianhalo117
on 08 Jan, 2024 05:19
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Parker Solar Probe Matches Speed, Distance Records on Latest Flight Past the SunPosted on 2024-01-02 16:50:41
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe completed its 18th close approach to the Sun on Dec. 28, matching its own distance record by skimming just about 4.51 million miles (7.26 million kilometers) of the solar surface.
The close approach (known as perihelion) occurred at 7:56 p.m. EST, with Parker Solar Probe moving 394,736 miles per hour (635,266 kilometers per hour) around the Sun – matching another record. The milestone also marked the midway point in the mission’s 18th solar encounter, which began Dec. 24 and continues through Jan. 2.
The spacecraft entered the encounter in good health, with all systems operating normally. Parker Solar Probe is scheduled to check back in with mission operators at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland – where the spacecraft was also designed and built – by sending a status beacon tone on Jan. 5.
Science of the Sun
Thanks to some novel adjustments in spacecraft operations, the Parker Solar Probe team has collected nearly three times the data than it expected before launch – and team members are publishing the results of this work far and wide. More than 690 peer-reviewed science papers use Parker data or are otherwise directly supported by the mission, and the team lists more than 100 peer-reviewed engineering papers describing Parker spacecraft development and operations. All told, these works have been cited more than 15,100 times.
Learn more about Parker science and data availability at
https://psp-gateway.jhuapl.edu/.
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#192
by
Star One
on 06 Apr, 2024 10:07
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NASA's Parker Solar Probe makes 1st-of-its-kind observation within a coronal mass ejection Now, NASA's Parker Solar Probe has gotten a first-ever peek inside a CME as it erupted from the sun. And what lies inside appears to be a treasure trove for solar physicists. The probe's visible-light-detecting, Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe (WISPR) instrument caught clear, turbulent eddies within the CME.
The eddies are what physicists call Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities (KHI). Physicists think KHI events occur whenever one patch of fast-moving fluid interacts with another. On Earth, KHI occurs in clouds when the wind speed at one end of the cloud is different from that at the other end.
https://www.livescience.com/space/the-sun/nasas-parker-solar-probe-makes-1st-of-its-kind-observation-within-a-coronal-mass-ejection
) If I'm not mistaken the Parker Solar Probe cost NASA ~$1.5 billion
