Parker Solar Probe Reports Successful Record-Setting Fourth Close Encounter of the Sun (nasa.gov) 20
NASA's Parker Solar Probe is healthy and operating as designed following its fourth close approach to the Sun, called perihelion, on Jan. 29. From a report: Mission controllers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, received a "status A" beacon from the spacecraft at 5:20 a.m. EST on Feb. 1. Status A is the best of four possible status signals, and indicates that the spacecraft is operating nominally and the instrument suites are collecting science data. This status also indicates that any minor issues that may have occurred were identified and resolved by Parker Solar Probe's onboard autonomy and fault management systems.
During this perihelion, Parker Solar Probe broke its own records for speed and proximity to the Sun for a human-made object. The spacecraft reached a speed of 244,255 miles per hour (about 393,044 kilometers per hour) as it whipped around the Sun at a distance of 11.6 million miles (about 18.6 million kilometers). Parker Solar Probe's heat shield, called the Thermal Protection System, or TPS, reached new record temperatures as well. At this distance from the Sun, computer modeling estimates show that the Sun-facing side of the TPS experienced a blazing 1,134 degrees Fahrenheit (612 degrees C), about 300 degrees hotter than encountered on the spacecraft's previous three perihelia. The spacecraft and instruments behind this protective heat shield remained at a temperature of about 85 F (30 C). During the spacecraft's closest three perihelia in 2024-25, the TPS will see temperatures around 2,500 F (1,370 C).
During this perihelion, Parker Solar Probe broke its own records for speed and proximity to the Sun for a human-made object. The spacecraft reached a speed of 244,255 miles per hour (about 393,044 kilometers per hour) as it whipped around the Sun at a distance of 11.6 million miles (about 18.6 million kilometers). Parker Solar Probe's heat shield, called the Thermal Protection System, or TPS, reached new record temperatures as well. At this distance from the Sun, computer modeling estimates show that the Sun-facing side of the TPS experienced a blazing 1,134 degrees Fahrenheit (612 degrees C), about 300 degrees hotter than encountered on the spacecraft's previous three perihelia. The spacecraft and instruments behind this protective heat shield remained at a temperature of about 85 F (30 C). During the spacecraft's closest three perihelia in 2024-25, the TPS will see temperatures around 2,500 F (1,370 C).
Obligatory (Score:2)
Looking forward to seeing that TPS report.
Lower than I thought (Score:3)
I had assumed the TPS would see temperatures in the 10,000 F ballpark... this is much lower than that, and is within reasonable ability to test here on Earth.
Of course, the hard part of thermal control in space is there's no atmosphere to sink heat into, so cooling is only achieved through radiation or mass ejection. Even being in a more reasonable temperature range than I thought does not make the problem easy, by any stretch.
Re: (Score:1)
I had assumed the TPS would see temperatures in the 10,000 F ballpark... this is much lower than that, and is within reasonable ability to test here on Earth.
Of course, the hard part of thermal control in space is there's no atmosphere to sink heat into, so cooling is only achieved through radiation or mass ejection. Even being in a more reasonable temperature range than I thought does not make the problem easy, by any stretch.
I'm going to guess because I read /. and I don't have time to look it up that it is on an trajectory that orbits closer to the sun with each perihelia, slowly warming up until it stops functioning. Just a guess.
I found the time..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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I couldn't tell you... the cover sheet on my TPS report was missing, so it didn't get sent to me.
operating in name only? (Score:3)
"the spacecraft is operating nominally", so it is operating in name only. I hardly think this the best of the statuses it could be operating in.
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"the spacecraft is operating nominally", so it is operating in name only. I hardly think this the best of the statuses it could be operating in.
Nominal Aerospace & Engineering: According to plan or design: a nominal flight check. [...]
https://english.stackexchange.... [stackexchange.com]
Please
Be
Smarter
Re: (Score:3)
It's because engineers can't use nominal words like a nominal person. Seriously though, it's probably due to some naming conflict with the geometric normal [wikipedia.org] or the normal [wikipedia.org] distribution that nominal came to mean "within tolerances". Like if you buy a galleon of gas it's one galleon give or take some tolerance on the pump. This was extended so that nominal function/performance means "works as expected". And the opposite is an anomaly, which is their way of saying that's not supposed to happen. I guess it's part
Re: (Score:2)
You could also say it's 5 by 5, but nominal is quicker
Close Encounters (Score:2)
Of the Fourth Kind.
Breaking News! (Score:2)
fourth close approach to the Sun, called perihelion, on Jan. 29.
Posted by msmash on Wednesday February 05
Fast (Score:2)
393,044 kilometers per hour is about 1/3600th of the speed of light. Light from the sun takes 8 minutes to reach the Earth. So if for some reason this satellite gets extremely off course it will reach the Earth in 8*3600 minutes is 28800 minutes is 480 hours is 20 days.
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Re: (Score:3)
Yep. In fact this probe would be travelling a lot slower than the earth if it went tangentially touched the earth's orbital plane. That's how it was put in that orbit so near the sun. By deceleration.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Re: (Score:2)
At that speed... (Score:2)
Parker could go from New York to Tokyo in minute and a half.
London to Athens in 22s.
Washington D.C to Boston in 6s.
It could get from Chicago to St Louis quicker than John Force can get a car from line to chutes.
I hear for safety, they're doing the close... (Score:2)
...approaches at night. :)
Heat Wave (Score:1)
As I filled in my name on a NASA-related website to be flown into the sun quite a while ago, I was already wondering why it felt so warm all of a sudden...
Ob: Scott Manley (Score:2)
Obligatory Scott Manley you tube links:
Dropping Things Into The Sun is Hard....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Parker Solar Probe - The Fastest, Hottest Space Probe Ever
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
The First Results Of Parker Solar Probe's Visits To The Sun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]