Artist’s concept of the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft approaching the sun. Credit: NASA
Blazing along at space-record speeds that would get it from Earth to the Moon in under an hour,
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkjns APL/Steve Gribben
The spacecraft entered the encounter in good health, with all systems operating normally. Parker Solar Probe is scheduled to check back in with mission operators at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland – where it was also designed and built – on November 24.
Parker Solar Probe is in the 10th of 24 planned, progressively closer orbits around the Sun. the spacecraft, built and operated at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, launched on August 12, 2018. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL
The spacecraft will transmit science data from the encounter – largely covering the properties and structure of the solar wind as well as the dust environment near the Sun – back to Earth from December 23-January 9.