SUN OBSERVER LAUNCHES

The Parker Solar Probe successfully launched towards the Sun on 12 August. “Now, Parker Solar Probe is operating normally and on its way to begin a seven-year mission of extreme science,” said Andy Driesman of Johns Hopkins University and project manager of Parker. The spacecraft will perform the first of seven Venus flybys on 3 October. This encounter will nudge the craft into an orbit that takes it through its first perihelion on 5 November.