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The first Venus flyby of a spacecraft that studies the sun from NASA is in the books.
The agency's solar probe Parker zoomed in less than 2,400 kilometers from Venus, as planned this morning (Oct. 3), for gravitational assistance sculpting the orbit, officials said. The NASA.
The spacecraft is thus on course for its first close encounter with the sun, which must take place from October 31 to November 11. During this 12-day period, the Parker Solar Probe will collect a wealth of sun data. structure, composition and activity.
Illustration of an artist representing NASA's Parker solar probe en route to the sun.
Credit: NASA / JHUAPL
The satellite, which was launched on August 12, has many more meetings of this type – a total of 24 over the next seven years. And there will also be six more flights of Venus, which will be used to shrink the orbit of Parker's solar probe, which will allow him to gradually move closer to the Earth's star.
For example, during the last approached approach in 2025, the spacecraft will travel less than 6.16 million km (3.83 million miles) from the sun's surface. In terms of perspective, the current proximity record – about which Parker will mark the end of this month – is 43 million km (27 million miles), set by the German-US Helios 2 mission in 1976.
Parker's NASA solar probe will use seven Venus overflights for nearly seven years to gradually reduce its orbit around the sun, approaching more than 3.83 million miles from the sun's surface. The first of these overflights took place on October 3, 2018.
Credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins APL
In the end, the data collected by the mission should allow scientists to better understand the sun and the space weather, said NASA officials. For example, the Parker solar probe could help solve two long-standing solar puzzles: why is the sun's outer atmosphere, or crown, so much hotter than the surface; and how, exactly, the charged particles that make up the solar wind are accelerated at their impressive speed.
Mike Wall's book on the search for extraterrestrial life, "Over there" will be published on November 13th. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
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