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Heliospheric Future: Parker Solar Probe (formerly Solar Probe Plus) & Solar Orbiter
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.](/static/svs/images/no_preview_web_black.png)
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.](/static/svs/images/no_preview_web_black.png)
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.](/static/svs/images/no_preview_web_black.png)
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.](/static/svs/images/no_preview_web_black.png)
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.](/static/svs/images/no_preview_web_black.png)
Solar Orbiter & Parker Solar Probe approach their final orbits.
![An End-of-Mission configuration. An End-of-Mission configuration.](/static/svs/images/no_preview_web_black.png)
An End-of-Mission configuration.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio
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Animator
- Tom Bridgman (Global Science and Technology, Inc.)
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Producer
- Scott Wiessinger (USRA)
Release date
This page was originally published on Thursday, September 20, 2012.
This page was last updated on Monday, July 15, 2024 at 12:01 AM EDT.
Missions
This visualization is related to the following missions:Series
This visualization can be found in the following series:Datasets used in this visualization
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DE421 (JPL DE421)
ID: 752Planetary ephemerides
This dataset can be found at: http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/?ephemerides#planets
See all pages that use this dataset -
SPICE Ephemerides (SPICE Ephemerides)
ID: 755Satellite and planetary ephemerides
See all pages that use this dataset
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details, nor the data sets themselves on our site.