Parker Solar Probe

[PRTVR]

Beati Dogu said:

Surprisingly they did cover it, but like the rest of the TV media, they soon lost interest when it didn't blow up on the pad.

Then they went back to reporting on the "stolen jet" that clearly had propellers on it. They probably thought it was wind powered though to be fair.

Technically it was a jet prop or turbo prop so part right,
Nurse Nurse, quick I need my medication I've started to defend the BBC.

[Eric Mc]

Simpo Two said:

Was this on the BBC news or did we just get another daily dose of anti-Brexit, anti-Trump and Syria?

On Saturday morning's Radio 4 news, it was the lead item.

After the launch was scrubbed they kind of lost a bit of interest and it wasn't so highly placed in the news list on Sunday morning. However, they covered it pretty well between Saturday and Sunday with interviews with members of the launch team and one of the lead scientists.

[Simpo Two]

Eric Mc said:

On Saturday morning's Radio 4 news, it was the lead item.

After the launch was scrubbed they kind of lost a bit of interest and it wasn't so highly placed in the news list on Sunday morning. However, they covered it pretty well between Saturday and Sunday with interviews with members of the launch team and one of the lead scientists.

Remarkable! Of greatest interest the BBC of course is Boris's letterbox comment, which while nothing to do with anything important at all rumbled on unfailingly in every news broadcast.

[Beati Dogu]

How NASA communicates with the various probes:

Dishes at Goldstone (California), Madrid and Canberra keep up round the clock contact:

https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html


They'll eventually put up the Parker Solar Probe's (PSP) speed and distance from Earth.

[Eric Mc]

Simpo Two said:

Remarkable! Of greatest interest the BBC of course is Boris's letterbox comment, which while nothing to do with anything important at all rumbled on unfailingly in every news broadcast.

Radio 4 is consistently the beacon of intelligence in UK broadcast media.

[Beati Dogu]

It's a pretty low bar though, to be fair.

[Eric Mc]

Beati Dogu said:

It's a pretty low bar though, to be fair.

I disagree.

BBC (especially BBC 4 and BBC Radio 4) sets a pretty good standard with their science and history output.

[Beati Dogu]

They may release a few test shots, but I don't think it would be very good for things like that. The camera is fixed pointing just off-axis with the heat shield in front of it.

It's really to photo the sun's corona using the heat shield to effectively make its own solar eclipse. Something like this.

[Beati Dogu]

The probe is on course for its first Venus flyby on 3rd October and its first encounter with the Sun on 5th November.


https://www.space.com/41531-parker-solar-probe-fir...

[Beati Dogu]

NASA has released a 360 degree video of the Parker Solar Probe's encapsulation and launch.

You can use your mouse to look around like you were actually there and zoom in and out with the scroll wheel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr78OOr2sCc&fe...

[Beati Dogu]

It's getting on for a year now since the Parker Solar Probe was launched and it has been busy

This photo was taken from within the Sun's corona, showing two solar flares coming from the left. The bright object is Mercury and the black dots are due to image correction:



Apparently they're getting twice as much data from the probe than they expected; Some 22 Gb so far, after its second fly by of the Sun.

It's currently heading back for a third close approach of the Sun & should be there by the end of August.