Parker Solar Probe sends a "Still Alive" tone back to Earth
- Reference: 1735308485
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/12/27/parker_solar_probe_sends_a/
- Source link:
The probe was just 3.8 million miles from the surface of the Sun as it whipped past at 430,000 miles per hour on December 24. The operations team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) [1]received a tone from the spacecraft just before midnight (EST) on December 26 to indicate the vehicle was in good health and operating normally.
More detailed telemetry data on the spacecraft's status is due to be sent back on Jan 1, along with precious observations that will help scientists better understand the origin of solar wind and how heating processes work in the region.
[2]
The flyby is the closest any human-made probe has passed the Sun. Or, as [3]XKCD put it, "Congratulations to the Parker Solar Probe for setting a new record for 'Worst Job Avoiding The Sun.'"
[4]
While the Parker Solar Probe has made the closest approach to the Sun, it is not the only spacecraft studying the star. The European Space Agency's (ESA) Solar Orbiter, launched in February 2020, is designed to help scientists understand the heating of the atmosphere and the formation of solar wind. According to ESA, the closest approach made by the spacecraft is 42 million km.
[5]According to ESA, "Solar Orbiter and Parker Solar Probe have each been designed and placed into a unique orbit to accomplish their different, if complementary, goals."
[6]
"Parker Solar Probe 'touches' our star at much closer distances than Solar Orbiter, to study how the solar wind originates – but does not have cameras to view the Sun directly. Solar Orbiter flies at an ideal distance to achieve a comprehensive perspective of our star, including both remote images and in situ measurements, and will view the Sun's polar regions for the first time."
The approach marks the beginning of the end for Parker Solar Probe unless the mission is extended. According to the mission's [7]Timeline , two more passes of the Sun are set for 2025, although there could conceivably be more. ®
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[1] https://parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/Show-Article.php?articleID=206
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Z27dNzfmiQq7f-id6ODpAQAAARU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://xkcd.com/3029
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z27dNzfmiQq7f-id6ODpAQAAARU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Solar_Orbiter/Liftoff_for_Solar_Orbiter_ESA_s_mission_to_face_the_Sun_up_close
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z27dNzfmiQq7f-id6ODpAQAAARU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu/The-Mission/index.php#Timeline
[8] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: I give it 30 years...
So you must be giving it about 20 years until we can predict where the coronal loops are going to be?
Good point.
It would still be awesome though.
Re: I give it 30 years...
Who says you have to hit a particular one? They often last days, you can wait for an active zone to appear near the probe's orbit and deorbit through it. I don't know how much more data we'd get compared to observing them from a distance though.
Re: I give it 30 years...
I'm not an expert in near-sun orbital mechanics but I bet you need a lot of booster energy and power to have a significant affect on the orbit of an object that close to the sun.
Re: I give it 30 years...
I didn't say change the orbit, I said deorbit. It doesn't require that much fuel to give in to gravity. You pick an orbit where active zones are common and wait for one to come to you. Presumably you want the probe to survive long enough to actually transmit that data back to you so developing electronics hardening would be part of the mission as well.
Good job
Mine’s the coat with SPF 10^8 in the pocket
Re: Good job
SPF 10 8 ? In good old Blighty* we just use a handkerchief with a knot at each corner as a sun hat.
* England to you colonial types.
Miles? It's still the middle age or what?
Isn't the Sun middle-aged by now?
Distances in leagues, fuel volume in firkins, temperature in Fahrenheit, time in fortnights.
Just wait until Farage makes this official Reform Party policy.
"Just wait until Farage makes this official Reform Party policy."
Nope far too sensible units for him :)
Meanwhile back on the sun
"WTF was that?" says the sun
" Congratulations to the Parker Solar Probe for setting a new record for 'Worst Job Avoiding The Sun.' "
Should ask the good people of Liverpool how it's done!
I give it 30 years...
Before we're trying to find a way of getting a satellite close enough to fly through a coronal loop...
Still this is an awesome achievement of having it get that close and not become one with the infinite leaving a million mile long trail of magic smoke.