Sun  ID: 4703

The Helios Missions

Visualizations by Tom Bridgman Released on April 4, 2019
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A view of the orbits of Helios A & Helios B (aka Helios 1 & Helios 2) looking oblliquely from above the ecliptic plane.
In the days before Parker Solar Probe (PSP), the previous record-breaking spacecraft for speed and closest distance to the Sun were the two Helios probes, launched in the mid-1970s. Now with PSP re-entering the environment inward of the orbit of Mercury, data from these probes is being re-examined with newer tools and compared to the newer data.
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A view of the orbits of Helios A & Helios B (aka Helios 1 & Helios 2) looking down from the ecliptic pole.

Visualization Credits

Tom Bridgman (GST): Lead Visualizer
Kathalina Tran (SGT): Lead Writer
Laurence Schuler (ADNET): Technical Support
Ian Jones (ADNET): Technical Support
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

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Mission:
Helios

Data Used:
DE 431
Ephemeris - JPL
Planetary ephemerides SPICE kernel
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JPL/Horizon Orbital Ephemerides
Ephemeris - NASA/JPL - 1974-12-10T23:51:00 to 1981-09-30T01:29:00
Planetary ephemerides
view all stories where this data set is used
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.

Keywords:
SVS >> Solar Wind
SVS >> Space Weather
SVS >> Hyperwall
SVS >> Heliophysics
SVS >> Satellites >> Sun
SVS >> Corona
NASA Science >> Sun