Parker Solar Probe Orbit Trajectory

Solar probe plus will orbit the sun 24 times gradually walking in toward the sun with each pass.

Parker solar probe orbit trajectory.

The closest points of each orbit come well within the path of mercury the closest planet to the sun. Parker solar probe will swoop to within four million miles of the sun s surface facing heat and radiation like no spacecraft before it. Previously solar probe solar probe plus or solar probe is a nasa robotic spacecraft launched in 2018 with the mission of making observations of the outer corona of the sun. On the final three orbits solar probe plus will fly to within 3 7 million miles of the sun s surface.

It will approach to within 9 86 solar radii 6 9 million km or 4 3 million miles from the center of the sun and by 2025 will travel at closest approach as fast as 690 000 km h. The parker solar probe abbreviated psp. Psp202009 0511 svg parker solar probe mission trajectory and current position parker solar probe distance from sun future orbit past orbit 250 200 150 100 50 0 distance from sun s surface r s 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 days from launch mercury venus earth solar probe parker heliocentric velocity km s. Parker solar probe will use seven venus flybys over nearly seven years to gradually shrink its orbit around the sun coming as close as 3 83 million miles and 6 16 million kilometers to the sun well within the orbit of mercury and about seven times closer than any spacecraft has come before.

Launching in 2018 parker solar probe will provide new data on solar activity and make critical contributions to our ability to forecast major space weather events that impact life on earth.