NASA & # 39; s historical mission to solve the mysteries of the sun which was launched on August 13th on board of a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy Rocket, works according to plan , mission controllers have said. [19659002] From 12 am EDT on 16 August, the Parker Solar Probe was 4.6 million kilometers from Earth, a journey of 62.764 kilometers per hour, and on its way to its first Venus flyby scheduled on October 3, 2018, Geoff Brown from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, wrote in a NASA blog post on Friday
The spacecraft will use Venus to slow itself down slightly and adjust its trajectory for an optimal path to the first perihelion of the Sun on November 5 from this year.
"Parker Solar Probe functions as designed and we make progress on our commissioning activities," said project manager Andy Driesman of APL.
This solar probe is the first mission of humanity in the atmosphere of the sun, called the corona. Here it will investigate solar energy processes that determine the prediction and prediction of space weather events that can affect life on earth.
The mission has already reached several planned milestones towards full commissioning and operations, according to mission controllers.
On 13 August, the high-gain antenna, used by Parker Solar Probe to communicate high-rate science data to the earth, was released from locks, keeping it stable during launch.
Controllers have also monitored the spacecraft while autonomously using the thrusters to remove (or "dump") the momentum that is part of the flight operations of the spacecraft.
Managing momentum helps the spacecraft stay in a stable and optimal flight profile.
There are four instrument suites on board Parker Solar Probe, each of which must be fed and prepared for the collection of scientific data.
FIELDS research, which consists of most elements, went first. It was powered on August 13 for two activities, Brown said.
The first was the opening of the terminals that had stored four of the five FIELDS antennas during take-off.
These antennas are deployed about 30 days after the launch, and they protrude from the corners of the heat shield of the spacecraft called the thermal protection system and are exposed to the harsh solar environment.
Second, the magnetometer boom of the spacecraft was fully deployed. This boom contains three magnetometers and a fifth, smaller electric field antenna, all part of the FIELDS series.
Further instrument checks and implementations are planned in the coming days for the spacecraft, Brown said.
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