NASA’s Parker Photo voltaic Probe Completes sixteenth Shut Strategy to the Solar

spacecraft got here inside 5.3 million miles of the photo voltaic floor

(NASA) – NASA’s Parker Photo voltaic Probe completed a milestone on June 27, 2023 – its sixteenth orbit of the Solar.

This included a detailed strategy to the Solar (generally known as perihelion) on June 22, 2023, the place the spacecraft got here inside 5.3 million miles of the photo voltaic floor whereas transferring at 364,610 miles per hour.

The spacecraft emerged from the photo voltaic flyby wholesome and working usually.

On Aug. 21, 2023, Parker Photo voltaic Probe will swing previous Venus for its sixth flyby of the planet.

To organize for a easy course, the mission workforce on the Johns Hopkins Utilized Physics Laboratory (APL) utilized a small trajectory correction maneuver on June 7, 2023, the primary course correction since March 2022.

This flyby would be the sixth of seven deliberate flybys of Venus throughout Parker’s main mission.

Parker makes use of Venus’ gravity to tighten its orbit across the Solar and arrange a future perihelion at simply 4.5 million miles from the Solar’s floor.

Because the Solar turns into more and more lively, this perihelion shall be particularly essential to studying extra about heliophysics.