25 votes
Accepted

Why is Voyager/Pioneer so slow compared to Parker Solar Probe?

Physical First and foremost, the physical reason is that objects accelerate as they approach massive bodies and decelerate as they recede: Parker Solar Probe achieves its peak orbital speed (almost ...
Jack's user avatar
  • 9,976
22 votes
Accepted

Could we possibly see the shadow offset from Parker Solar probe on Earth?

The closer an object to the source of light, the larger the shadow it casts. That's true if we're talking about a point source or at least a compact source of light and "shadow" refers to ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
11 votes

Parker Solar probe's heat survival - Heat vs Temperature

You are missing something basic here, which is that the Sun's corona is rather sparse. To take matters to an even greater extreme, consider the intergalactic medium. The temperature of the extremely ...
David Hammen's user avatar
  • 74.6k
10 votes
Accepted

What is "light bar testing"?

This test was performed to ensure that the 44 series of solar cells (or "strings") were still connected. After the acoustic and vibration testing, there was a chance that some of the electrical ...
called2voyage's user avatar
  • 23.7k
10 votes

How does the Parker Solar Probe's heat shield protect it from dust near the sun?

The heat shield (TPS) is not meant to protect the spacecraft from dust impacts. The statement is not quite accurate and (from a recent search) seems to have been removed from site. As an engineer on ...
That60sKid's user avatar
10 votes

Will or could the Parker Solar Probe do science at Venus?

This was addressed directly by Dr Nicola Fox, project scientist for the Parker Solar Probe mission in an interview during NASA's live broadcast of the August 12th 2018 launch - hence the late answer! ...
Jack's user avatar
  • 9,976
10 votes

How does the Parker Solar Probe have such a wide launch window?

There is some information in this paper although it does not directly address your question. It does mention that the first Venus flyby is at a relatively high altitude (about 2500 km) which may make ...
Steve Linton's user avatar
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10 votes
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What are the moving particles that can be seen by the Parker Solar Probe?

According to NASA: Bright streaks in WISPR, such as the ones seen here, are typically caused by a combination of charged particles — called cosmic rays — sunlight reflected by grains of space dust, ...
Dave Gremlin's user avatar
  • 2,819
9 votes
Accepted

What will happen to Parker Solar Probe in the long term?

Surface contamination is not an issue for Mercury or Venus. It is only considered a Category I (Mercury) or II (Venus) risk, which essentially means don't worry about it too much. Also, its orbit will ...
PearsonArtPhoto's user avatar
  • 121k
8 votes

Why is Voyager/Pioneer so slow compared to Parker Solar Probe?

You have probably seen funnels like the above in shopping malls. Drop a coin in the funnel and it will move slowly at the edge and move faster as it nears the center. This is a good model of a ...
HopDavid's user avatar
  • 15.8k
8 votes
Accepted

Will the Parker probe use aerobraking at Venus? If not, why not?

It's using the gravity of Venus alone. Skimming the atmosphere would risk damaging the spacecraft From the NASA blog On Oct. 3, Parker Solar Probe successfully completed its flyby of Venus at a ...
Machavity's user avatar
  • 7,905
8 votes
Accepted

What is 'triggered lightning'?

Rockets, especially big ones, create their own artificial, gaseous "wires". Tall cumulus clouds reaching high enough that their upper parts are ice instead of water droplets generate powerful ...
Tom Spilker's user avatar
  • 18.3k
8 votes
Accepted

Was solar newbie Solar Orbiter able to get "closer" to the Sun than Parker Solar Probe so quickly?

Other spacecraft have been closer, but none have carried Sun-facing imagers. Source: The link you provided ("Other spacecraft" is linked to an article about Parker Solar Probe) Q: Or did ...
CallMeTom's user avatar
  • 3,298
7 votes
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What is the material and reflectivity of the surface of Parker Solar Probe's heat shield that faces the Sun?

This was difficult to answer until I figured out that this mission used to be called "Solar Probe Plus" and all the early studies were done under that name. From here: As part of the TPS Risk ...
Organic Marble's user avatar
7 votes

Velocity of the Parker Probe when it will be given final boost by the rocket?

At 9 hours after launch, the Parker Space Probe's current speed is about 12.4 km/s with respect to the center of the Earth. This is smaller than it was a bit over 8 hours ago when the third stage burn ...
David Hammen's user avatar
  • 74.6k
7 votes
Accepted

Parker Solar probe jumping through fire?

No, it's much too slow for that. The Parker Solar Probe reaches (or at least approaches) thermal equilibrium on its perihelion passes; your hand passing briefly through a flame does not.
pericynthion's user avatar
  • 10.1k
7 votes
Accepted

At what distance to the sun would the Parker Solar Probe completely fail?

The last three Parker passes will be at 3.8 million miles from the Sun. That’s as low as the sun shield is designed to go and still be a shield. As Parker gets lower and lower, the Sun takes up more ...
Bob Jacobsen's user avatar
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7 votes
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Why is ISRO planning to launch Aditya-L1 if NASA has already launched the Parker Solar Probe?

Yes, there are several reasons why ISRO is planning to launch Aditya-L1 even though NASA has already launched the Parker Solar Probe. Different perspectives: The Parker Solar Probe will fly much ...
Amal's user avatar
  • 164
6 votes

Radio Telemetry from Parker Probe?

It won't transmit data when it is at the closest points, but those periods are pretty small. Take a look at this image seen from this report to see how these will work. 1 degree can transmit Ka ...
PearsonArtPhoto's user avatar
  • 121k
6 votes

Velocity of the Parker Probe when it will be given final boost by the rocket?

Technically this answer doesn't specify what slows it down, but it does explain how it does. I've never done anything with orbital mechanics before today, but I got bored and read a few articles, ...
Magic Octopus Urn's user avatar
6 votes
Accepted

How can the Parker Solar Probe survive passing within 4 million miles of the sun's surface?

Solar Probe Plus will be protected by an 11.4 cm (4.5 inch) carbon composite shield during it's closest approaches. Furthermore, the highly elliptical orbit will ensure that it won't remain close to ...
PearsonArtPhoto's user avatar
  • 121k
6 votes

How does the Parker Solar Probe have such a wide launch window?

New launch schedule: Rescheduled to lift off at 3:31 a.m. EDT on Aug. 12, 2018. Scrub Announcement Video: "Parker Solar Probe Launch Postponed". There will be live coverage on the NASA ...
Rob's user avatar
  • 3,266
6 votes

Will or could the Parker Solar Probe do science at Venus?

As one scientist said to me "It would be a sin to fly by Venus and not do science". So, yes, scientifically valuable data will be collected during the Venus flybys. (As it turns out this data ...
That60sKid's user avatar
5 votes

How does the Parker Solar Probe have such a wide launch window?

You are correct in your assumption that larger launch windows require higher fuel margins on the rocket. Therefore, the main reason for such a large launch window is not because they just want to, but ...
DaGroove's user avatar
  • 1,334
5 votes
Accepted

Velocity of the Parker Probe when it will be given final boost by the rocket?

I added this to a special page to Where is Roadster, you can find the Parker Solar Probe info here. The current location is 7,338,815 miles (11,810,682 km, 0.079 AU) from Earth, moving away from ...
PearsonArtPhoto's user avatar
  • 121k
5 votes

Speed at aphelion is decreasing for Parker Solar Probe with each new orbit despite being closer to the Sun

Just a short supplementary to try and add a more "intuitive" understanding to the two excellent "equation-based" answers. For me the easiest way to think of this is that you have ...
Steve Linton's user avatar
  • 19.6k
5 votes

Is it more efficient to burn all needed fuel in an Oberth manoeuvre at once or burn a fraction of the fuel for each orbit?

Retrograde thrust at periapsis doesn't lower the periapsis, it lowers the apoapsis. If you're trying to lower the periapsis, you need to apply thrust at apoapsis. If you're trying to lower your ...
Mark's user avatar
  • 15.3k
5 votes

Parker Solar Probe orbital velocity

Yes, it causes distortion. But No, this will not pose any exceptional problems. All space probes are in motion relative to the sender/receiver on Earth. This motion causes distortion of the signal's ...
CuteKItty_pleaseStopBArking's user avatar
5 votes

How close can a spacecraft get to the Sun if it is limited solely by passive cooling?

This simple example shows the effectiveness of a sunshade. Admittedly, a spherical black body may not be the best design for a sunshade, but it makes the calculation easy. In cold space, the ...
Roger Wood's user avatar
  • 3,854
4 votes
Accepted

How cold was it in the shade of the Parker solar probe?

At Parker Solar Probe’s closest approach to the Sun, temperatures on the heat shield will reach nearly 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit, but the spacecraft and its instruments will be kept at a relatively ...
Magic Octopus Urn's user avatar

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