Parker Solar Probe

[James Snover]

On August 12, 2018, NASA launched it's Parker Solar Probe on a course to put it in a decaying orbit around the sun.

The probe weighed barely 3,000 pounds, if that much. It was launched on our biggest rocket at the time, the Delta Heavy, which is made to launch up to 50,000 pounds into orbit. The Delta Heavy was fully fueled, too. It gave that little satellite a huge speed.

So why such a big rocket for such a small satellite?

Here's another little bit to further the mystery: the Delta Heavy wasn't enough. The Parker solar probe had to get a gravity assist from Venus, come almost all the way back to Earth's orbit, then with all the speed it picked up from it's pass by Venus, head for the sun.

If it weighed so little, why was all that speed necessary?

 

[4.698gt]

Solar winds
Extreme magnetism or
Aliens

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[James Snover]

Solar winds
Extreme magnetism or
Aliens

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Close, but no.

Actually, not even close.


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[blk02edge]

The earths orbital velocity is fast

 

[BrunotheBoxer]

Because it takes a lot of energy to go to the sun.
The earth travels almost entirely sideways relative to the Sun. The only way to get to the Sun is to cancel that sideways motion.

 

[RedVenom48]

I thought that the closer you get to the Sun due to its mass, you need to have a faster speed to keep the orbit distance to overcome the increase in gravity.

 

[SonicDTR]

Takes a lot of speed to punch through the holographic sphere around the fake sun, of course.

 

[blk02edge]

Takes a lot of speed to punch through the holographic sphere around the fake sun, of course.

Legend has it, if your binoculars are strong enough you can see the pixels of the hologram

 

[James Snover]

The earths orbital velocity is fast

Closer, but not quite.


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[James Snover]

Because it takes a lot of energy to go to the sun.
The earth travels almost entirely sideways relative to the Sun. The only way to get to the Sun is to cancel that sideways motion.

The first part is right. 100%. Second part ...not so much.


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[James Snover]

Legend has it, if your binoculars are strong enough you can see the pixels of the hologram

That’s my fault. Sometimes I don’t pay close enough attention to the projector and it defaults to low resolution. Then I have to go and yell at Bill Gates about how his 2012-correction software is screwing up yet again!


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[SonicDTR]

But really, perhaps the only way to survive at the intended proximity is to make it a shorter/faster trip?

 

[James Snover]

But really, perhaps the only way to survive at the intended proximity is to make it a shorter/faster trip?

Nope. It wasn’t going last long being so close to the sun,


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[SonicDTR]

Nope. It wasn’t going last long being so close to the sun,


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I stand by my original theory then.

 

[98 svt]

Lol @ all you chumps, thinking the earth is round

 

[Machdup1]

Gravity

 

[blk02edge]

Closer, but not quite.


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Well to me it's the main part, using gravity assist to slow its orbital velocity but gaining velocity inwards/outwards.

 

[James Snover]

The answer is: the more massive something is, the more it curves space near if. The space around the sun is so warped it is actually difficult to get anything small in any kind of stable orbit. Because despite its gravity, it tends to just fling things away from it. You can see this in the orbits of planets and comets. Planets are big, and have mostly circular orbits with just a bit of elliptical to them. Comets have hugely elliptical orbits and many are not stable.

Debris does crash into the sun, every day. But itakes forever for any one bit of debris to hit that perfect trajectory. It only happens because the solar system is an amazingly dirty place.

So they had toss the probe out there with our biggest rocket and get a gravity boost off Venus just to get put in the right place.


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[James Snover]

And the sun is only about twice as large as the average star. There are monsters out there that make 'ol Sol look like a firecracker next to an h-bomb.


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[SonicDTR]

We really are in one helluva impressive simulation!