Parker Solar Probe: First Results After Three Solar Encounters and Outlook

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is the first mission to venture into the atmosphere of a star, i.e. the solar corona. Parker is primarily an exploration mission and the potential for discoveries is huge. It will potentially revolutionize our understanding of this mysterious region by answering long-standing questions that puzzled scientists for decades: how the solar wind plasma is heated and accelerated and solar energetic particles accelerated and transported throughout the heliosphere.

Parker launched on August 12, 2018, and accomplished two solar encounters and is heading toward the third, all with a perihelion of 35.6 solar radii. The second Venus gravity assist will be performed on December 26, 2019, after which the orbit perihelion will decrease to 27.8 Solar Radii. The analyses of science data from the first two orbits show new phenomena and plasma properties not seen before in the solar wind. We provide an overview on the mission’s status after three solar encounters and the first science discoveries as well as the outlook of the mission for the upcoming solar encounters.