On April 4, 2019, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe achieved its second perihelion (close approach) of the Sun and flew within 15 million miles (24 million km) of our star’s surface.
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe approaching the Sun. Image credit: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
“Parker Solar Probe is performing as designed, and it was great to be able to track it during this entire perihelion,” said Dr. Nickalaus Pinkine, Parker Solar Probe mission operations manager at the Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
“We’re looking forward to getting the science data down from this encounter in the coming weeks so the science teams can continue to explore the mysteries of the corona and the Sun.”
Parker Solar Probe began this solar encounter on March 30, and it will conclude on April 10.
The encounter phase is roughly defined as when the spacecraft is within 0.25 AU of the Sun.
The probe was traveling at 213,200 mph (343,112 kmh) during this perihelion.
Dr. Pinkine and colleagues scheduled a contact with the spacecraft via NASA’s Deep Space Network for four hours around the perihelion and monitored the health of the spacecraft throughout this critical part of the encounter.
The probe sent back beacon status ‘A’ throughout its second perihelion, indicating that the spacecraft is operating well and all instruments are collecting science data.
