Parker Solar Probe Orbit

A unique solar observatory that will orbit within 4 million miles of our star s surface to directly study the formation of the solar wind.

Parker solar probe orbit.

The size of the orbit will be decreased over nearly seven years using seven venus flybys. 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. Solar probe plus will orbit the sun 24 times gradually walking in toward the sun with each pass. The closest points of each orbit come well within.

The parker solar probe concept originates in the 1958 report by the fields and particles group committee 8 of the national academy of sciences space science board which proposed several space missions including a solar probe to pass inside the orbit of mercury to study the particles and fields in the vicinity of the sun. The spacecraft about the size of a small car will travel directly into the sun s atmosphere about 4 million miles from our star s surface. What is parker solar probe. Studies in the 1970s and 1980s reaffirmed its importance but it.

This latest data captured by the spacecraft s four instrument suites spans parker solar probe s fourth orbit around the sun including its. Nasa s parker solar probe will be the first ever mission to touch the sun. A spacecraft that uses breakthrough technology and autonomy to endure heat and radiation like no other mission.