NASA’s Parker Photo voltaic Probe will make a detailed method to Venus on Wednesday, marking the spacecraft’s seventh and closing flyby of the planet. This manoeuvre will set the probe on a course for its historic plunge towards the solar, bringing it inside 3.8 million miles of our star’s floor — nearer than any human-made object has ventured. Nour Raouafi, Challenge Scientist on the Johns Hopkins College Utilized Physics Laboratory, described this method as “nearly touchdown on a star,” likening it to the importance of the 1969 moon touchdown.
Venus Flybys as Important Milestones
The Parker Photo voltaic Probe, launched in 2018, depends on gravitational assists from Venus to progressively scale back its distance from the solar, utilizing the planet’s gravitational pull to regulate its orbit. Yanping Guo, Mission Design and Navigation Supervisor on the Johns Hopkins Utilized Physics Laboratory, emphasised that this closing Venus flyby is essential in positioning the probe for its upcoming shut encounter with the solar.
Whereas designed for photo voltaic exploration, the probe’s devices have offered invaluable knowledge on Venus. Throughout earlier flybys, Parker’s Huge-Area Imager (WISPR) managed to seize photographs by way of Venus’s thick environment, revealing floor particulars like continents and plateaus. The probe additionally recorded emissions from Venus’s nightside, offering insights into its floor composition and temperature, which is round 860 levels Fahrenheit (460 Celsius).
A Nearer Take a look at Venusian Floor
This week’s flyby will permit scientists to level WISPR towards Venus as soon as extra to seize new floor photographs, together with areas with diversified landforms. Noam Izenberg, a planetary geologist at APL, famous that this shut method presents a novel probability to review variations in Venus’s floor options, doubtlessly uncovering details about its geology and thermal properties.
Approaching the Solar’s Frontier
On December 24, the Parker Photo voltaic Probe will skim the solar’s outer layer at speeds of as much as 430,000 miles per hour (692,010 km/h). Though mission management will lose contact throughout this shut move, engineers hope to obtain a sign on December 27 confirming the probe’s success. This achievement might unlock vital insights into the solar’s outer environment, its intense warmth, and its magnetic dynamics, additional advancing our understanding of photo voltaic phenomena.
