Parker Has Now Ripped Past Venus, Again -- Heading Into The September Close Pass, Next To... Sol: Johns Hopkins Reports

The sling-shot / speed gathering maneuver has gone off without a hitch -- so now it sprints toward our local star, for a 19^th close dip. . . with more data gathering ahead.

Here's the latest, from JHAPL's blog:

. . .At just before 8:03 a.m. EDT, moving approximately 15 miles (more than 24 kilometers) per second, Parker Solar Probe passed 2,487 miles (4,003 kilometers) above the Venusian surface as it curved around the planet toward the inner solar system.

The mission operations team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, kept in contact with the spacecraft during the flyby through NASA’s Deep Space Network – except for an expected 8 minutes at closest approach, when Venus was between Earth and Parker -- and determined the spacecraft was on course and operating normally. . . .

My most recent backgrounder on this may be found here. Speaking of hot rides, now -- do stay cool, locally here in middle America -- as we approach 115 degrees on the heat index here, this afternoon. . . yikes! Time for more lemon water ice, tonight, freshly shaved -- grinning.

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