2019 Acheivments

 

It started its second solar encounter on March 30, 2019, and it made its second perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) on April 4, 2019 at 6:40 p.m. EDT, where it was at a distance of 15 million miles from the sun with a speed of 213,200 miles per hour, this solar encounter lasted until April 10. During this solar encounter the amazing design of the solar probe helped us to store a lot of data.

The main purpose of that great mission is to know more and more about the mysteries of the sun, so after the second solar encounter has succeeded, the monitoring team of Parker Solar Probe decided to extend science observations as the spacecraft approaches its third solar encounter, as Parker Solar Probe turned on its four instrument suites on Aug. 16, 2019 — earlier than during its previous two solar encounters, extending the observation period from 11 days to about 35 days, which made us know more information about the sun.

At just before 1:50 p.m. EDT on Sept. 1, 2019, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe completed its third perihelion, at the time of perihelion, the spacecraft was about 15 million miles from the Sun’s surface, traveling at more than 213,200 miles per hour, and this third encounter differs from the first two solar encounters in having longer time to collect more data.

On November 12, 2019, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe team released scientific data collected during the spacecraft’s first two solar encounters to the general public.

On December 26, Parker Solar Probe successfully completed its second flyby of Venus. The spacecraft used Venus to slow itself down, approaching the planet at a distance of about 1,870 miles from Venus’s surface during the second gravity assist of the mission. As the Solar Probe uses Venus to be ready for the next solar encounter to approach the sun at less distance.