Heliospheric Future: Parker Solar Probe (formerly Solar Probe Plus) & Solar Orbiter

  • Released Thursday, September 20, 2012
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Two future missions scheduled for detailed studies of the Sun and solar atmosphere are Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter.

Parker Solar Probe will move in a highly-elliptical orbit, using gravity-assists from Venus to move it closer to the Sun with each pass. The goal is to get the spacecraft to fly through the corona at a distance of 9.5 solar radii.

Solar Orbiter will use Earth and Venus gravity assists to move into a relatively circular orbit, inside the orbit of Mercury for monitoring the Sun.

This movie illustrates the planned trajectories for Solar Orbiter and Parker Solar Probe.

Opening view of the inner solar system, 2016.

Opening view of the inner solar system, 2016.

Solar Orbiter leaves Earth and gets a gravity-assist from Venus.

Solar Orbiter leaves Earth and gets a gravity-assist from Venus.

Parker Solar Probe enters an elliptical solar orbit.

Parker Solar Probe enters an elliptical solar orbit.

Parker Solar Probe uses repeated Venus flybys to move its perihelion closer to the Sun.

Parker Solar Probe uses repeated Venus flybys to move its perihelion closer to the Sun.

Solar Orbiter & Parker Solar Probe approach their final orbits.

Solar Orbiter & Parker Solar Probe approach their final orbits.

An End-of-Mission configuration.

An End-of-Mission configuration.

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

This page was originally published on Thursday, September 20, 2012.
This page was last updated on Sunday, January 5, 2025 at 10:14 PM EST.

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