NASA's Parker Solar Probe successfully flew past Venus on August 21, using the planet's gravity to aim it toward a record-setting series of flights around the sun that start next month.
The spacecraft passed 2,487 miles (4,003 kilometers) above the Venusian surface at a speed of approximately 15 miles (more than 24 kilometers) per second. The mission operations team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, kept in contact with the spacecraft during the flyby and determined it was on course and operating normally.
This was the Parker mission's sixth of seven planned Venus gravity assists. These flybys are essential to guiding the spacecraft progressively closer to the sun. 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 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."
The Parker Solar Probe is a mission to study the sun's atmosphere, or corona. The spacecraft is equipped with a variety of instruments that will help scientists to understand how the corona is heated to millions of degrees and how it accelerates the solar wind, a stream of charged particles that flows out from the sun.
The Parker Solar Probe is a truly groundbreaking mission, and its success is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the scientists and engineers who have made it possible. The data that the spacecraft will collect will help us to better understand our star and its influence on the solar system.
The next close approach of the Parker Solar Probe to the sun will take place on September 27. This will be the first of five record-breaking perihelions that the spacecraft will make over the next few years.