NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Makes Last Venus Flyby Before Historic Sun Encounter

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is gearing up for a momentous achievement in exploration as it completes its seventh flyby of Venus, final maneuver that will set craft on a trajectory to come within 3.8 million miles of sun’s surface — closest any human-built object has ever come to star.

"We are basically almost landing on a star," said ur Raouafi, an astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and project scientist for Parker Solar Probe mission. "This will be a monumental achievement for all humanity. This is equivalent to moon landing of 1969."

Unraveling Sun's Mysteries

Launched in 2018, Parker Solar Probe embarked on an ambitious mission to unravel sun’s most puzzling mysteries, including why its outer atmosphere, corona, reaches temperatures hundreds of times hotter than surface. Through its journey, craft has alrey begun uncovering secrets about our star, providing scientists with valuable data to better understand solar phemena.

Gravity Assists from Venus

Gravity assists from Venus have played a crucial role in helping craft navigate closer to sun. se gravitational slingshots have allowed Parker to reduce its orbital energy and tighten its orbit, bringing it nearer to sun with each flyby.

"Venus 7 is critical gravity assist for Parker Solar Probe to eventually achieve its minimum solar distance," explained Yanping Guo, mission design and navigation manr at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL).

Venus Flybys Yield Unexpected Scientific Discoveries

While its primary mission is to study sun, Parker Solar Probe's repeated Venus flybys have provided unexpected opportunities to gar bonus scientific data. During a flyby in July 2020, craft's camera, Wide-Field Imr for Parker Solar Probe (WISPR), captured stunning ims that revealed Venus’ surface beneath its thick cloud cover, including distinct features like continental regions and plateaus.

camera also detected faint heat emissions from Venus’ scorching nightside, which, at 860°F (460°C), "would be like a piece of iron pulled from a forge," according to Brian Wood of Naval Research Laboratory. WISPR’s ims suggested potential chemical variations or recent volcanic activity on planet's surface, providing fresh insights into Venus' geologic history.

Upcoming Flyby to Capture New Data on Venus

On v. 6, Parker Solar Probe will once again pass within 233 miles (376 km) of Venus, allowing WISPR to gar even more data on planet’s surface features. “Because it flies over a number of similar and different landforms than previous Venus flybys, v. 6 flyby will give us more context to evaluate wher WISPR can help us distinguish physical or even chemical properties of Venus' surface,” said am Izenberg, a planetary geologist at APL.

Parker Solar Probe's Historic Close Approach to Sun

craft's closest approach to sun will take place on Christmas Eve, when it will skim sun's photosphere — its visible surface — traveling at a blistering speed of 430,000 miles per hour (692,010 kilometers per hour). During this time, mission control will lose contact with probe, awaiting a beacon tone on Dec. 27 to confirm its successful approach and craft's continued health.

With this milestone, Parker Solar Probe will push boundaries of exploration, bringing humanity closer to sun than ever before and continuing its mission to unlock mysteries of solar system's most powerful star.