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NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is set to complete its seventh and final Venus gravity assist manoeuvre that will send it back towards the Sun. The probe will pass within 375 km of Venus’ surface in doing so. At this time, the probe will fly around Venus, using the gravitational force exerted by the planet on the spacecraft to push it towards the sun. 

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After reaching its desired destination, the spacecraft will be 6.12 million km away from the solar surface on Dec 20, 2024. This will be the closest that any man-made object has ever got to the surface of the sun.

The probe will fly through plumes of plasma spewing out of the Sun at a record 692,000km/hr. This is the ultimate objective the Parker probe hopes to achieve.

The Parker Solar Probe has been to the sun in the past few years, gathering valuable data. In 2021, it peered into the solar environment following the release of solar flares. It flew through a coronal mass ejection and captured the extreme environment on video. 

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It did the same in September 2022 again, giving researchers an opportunity to understand how the Sun’s plasma interacts with the interplanetary dust around it.

Also Read: Blasts similar to detonating atomic bombs rattling fast-spinning stellar corpse

However, the gravity assist will not only launch it towards a trip to the Sun but also let it peer into Venus once again. It will be a chance to learn about the ring of dust around the planet and the mysterious radio signals from its atmosphere.

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Parker probe to look at Venus again

The Wide-Field Imager for Parker Solar Probe, or WISPR, has proved to be a crucial instrument in learning more about our twin planet. Normally, it looks outwards and at the fine details in the solar wind.

But on July 11, 2020, during Parker’s third Venus flyby, WISPR gazed into the planet’s thick cloud cover and sent back surprising images. It was able to cut through the clouds and look deep into the Venusian surface below. 

The probe captured infrared emissions from the planet’s surface which literally glows because of the extreme heat. Venus sizzles at a temperature of approximately 465 degrees C.

"The WISPR cameras can see through the clouds to the surface of Venus, which glows in the near-infrared because it’s so hot," said Noam Izenberg, a space scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, in a NASA release.

Now with the last flyby, scientists are hoping to answer a few more questions about Venus. 

“Because it flies over a number of similar and different landforms than the previous Venus flybys, the Nov. 6 flyby will give us more context to evaluate whether WISPR can help us distinguish physical or even chemical properties of Venus’ surface,” said Noam.

The Parker probe's closest approach to the sun will occur on Dec 24. But scientists won't know whether or not it was a success since it will be out of touch with mission control. The results will be revealed only on December 27 when it notifies mission control through a beacon.