The Upcoming Venus Flyby for Parker Probe Will Propel It Towards an Unprecedented Meeting with Solar Immensity
NASA's Parker Solar Probe is all set for its seventh and final close encounter with Venus tomorrow, utilizing Venus' gravitational pull to propel the probe back towards the Sun. This maneuver will make the probe the closest human-made object ever to Sun's surface.
The flyby will set the stage for this record-breaking feat and offers an chance to review Parker's observations about Venus, including the dust ring encircling the planet and the puzzling radio signals emanating from its atmosphere.
During the gravity assist, the probe will get as close as 233 miles (376 kilometers) to Venus' surface. The probe will orbit Venus, using the planet's gravitational force to propel itself towards the Sun. Gravity assist is a useful tool for space agencies aiming to save on the fuel required by spacecraft.
In the past, the Parker Solar Probe has had a few narrow escapes with the Sun. In 2021, the probe navigated through a coronal mass ejection, capturing some intense footage of that extreme environment. The probe repeated this feat in September 2022, helping researchers comprehend how the Sun's plasma interacts with the interplanetary dust.
Flybys provide an opportunity to photograph a world's surface in detail. In 2020 and 2021, the probe took images of Venus' surface, correlating with data collected by the daring Magellan spacecraft 30 years earlier. The Parker probe took these images using its Wide-Field Imager, which detected infrared emissions from the planet's surface, visible through the planet's thick clouds due to its high temperature.
"Because it flies over a variety of similar and different landforms than previous Venus flybys, the Nov. 6 flyby will give us more context to evaluate whether WISPR can help us distinguish the physical or even chemical properties of Venus' surface," said Noam Izenberg, a space scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, in a NASA statement.
As Parker gets closest to the Sun, it will be approximately 3.86 million miles (6.12 million kilometers) away from the star's surface. The near-pass, involving the probe flying through streams of plasma hurled off the Sun at a record-breaking 430,000 miles per hour (692,000km/hr), is the probe's ultimate goal.
The closest approach is scheduled for December 24, during which the probe will be out of contact with mission control. However, according to the same statement, the probe will broadcast a signal on December 27 to notify mission control about its success and condition.
The Parker Solar Probe mission is set to conclude in 2025, after this exceptionally close encounter with our star. Whatever follows will build upon the accomplishments of this record-breaking pioneer in space travel.
The upcoming close encounter with the Sun will not only break previous records but also provide valuable data on the Sun's plasma interactions with interplanetary dust. With the advancement of science and technology, future space missions might utilize similar gravity assist maneuvers to explore deeper into our solar system.
The findings from the Parker Solar Probe's journey will significantly contribute to our understanding of solar physics, potentially leading to significant advancements in space technology and predictions about future space weather events.
