Month: September 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

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

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