Parker Solar Probe Orbit Trajectory

Nasa s parker solar probe will be the first ever mission to touch the sun.

Parker solar probe orbit trajectory.

The closest points of each orbit come well within the path of mercury the closest planet to the sun. The parker solar probe abbreviated psp. On the final three orbits solar probe plus will fly to within 3 7 million miles of the sun s surface. The spacecraft about the size of a small car will travel directly into the sun s atmosphere about 4 million miles from our star s surface.

Launching in 2018 parker solar probe will provide new data on solar activity and make critical contributions to our ability to forecast major space weather events that impact life on earth. Previously solar probe solar probe plus or solar probe is a nasa robotic spacecraft launched in 2018 with the mission of making observations of the outer corona of the sun. Solar probe plus will orbit the sun 24 times gradually walking in toward the sun with each pass. Parker solar probe will use seven venus flybys over nearly seven years to gradually shrink its orbit around the sun coming as close as 3 83 million miles and 6 16 million kilometers to the sun well within the orbit of mercury and about seven times closer than any spacecraft has come before.

74 72 distance from sun center au.