New Delhi: The Parker Solar Probe will execute the seventh and final gravity assist manoeuvre around Venus on 6 November, and then make its closest approach to the Sun. The mission was first conceived 65 years ago, and repeatedly dives into the corona or outer atmosphere of the Sun. The Parker Solar Probe is the closest an object made by humans has gotten to our host star. The closest approach to the Sun, known as the perihelion takes the spacecraft into the plumes of plasma driven by tangled magnetic fields on the surface of the Sun.
Venus during the fourth flyby of Parker Solar Probe. (Image Credit: NASA/APL/NRL/Magellan Team/JPL/USGS).
The next perihelion is scheduled for 24 December, 2024. The spacecraft will not be communicating with ground stations during the perihelion, but will reestablish contact three days later, on 27 December. At this time, the ground teams will assess the health of the spacecraft. There are two additional perihelia planned for the spacecraft, at the same distance. The next closest approach will set the record for the closest to the Sun any spacecraft has ever reached. Although the primary goal of the spacecraft is to observe the complex processes on the Sun that drive solar activity, scientists have used the seven Venus flybys to understand more about Earth’s sister planet.
Solar Observatory studying Venus
On board the spacecraft is a Wide-Field Imager for Parker Solar Probe (WISPR), that is pointed away from the Sun to measure the solar wind. Scientists have repurposed this instrument to probe the thick atmosphere blanketing Venus. When researchers tried it for the first time in 2020, they were surprised to discover that the instrument could peer straight through the surface, and capture details on the obscured surface below. The clouds glow in infrared frequencies because of how hot Venus it, with surface temperatures of about 465°C. The Parker Solar Probe will also be studying Venus during the upcoming flyby.
