Parker Solar Probe Completes 16th Science Encounter

NASA's Parker Solar Probe has completed its 16th science orbit, which included a close approach to the Sun (known as perihelion) that brought it within just 5.3 million miles of the solar surface on June 22 while moving at 364,610 miles per hour.

The mission team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, APL noted the close approach was preceded by a small trajectory correction maneuver (TCM) on June 7 —​ the first course correction since March 2022. The team performs TCMs periodically to ensure that the​ spacecraft remains on course, and the latest maneuver kept Parker on track to hit the "aim point" for the mission's sixth Venus flyby on Aug. 21. ​