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The Parker Solar Probe will make its closest approach yet to the Sun

(arstechnica.com)
164 points pseudolus | 1 comments | 20 Dec 24 11:23 UTC | HN request time: 0.212s | source
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mmooss ◴[21 Dec 24 06:36 UTC] No.42477909[source]▶
Look at this NASA animation of two solar probes orbiting the Sun (thanks ostacke and DiggyJohnson):

https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3966/

One probe, Parker I assume, goes through all the planetary flybys to achieve its solar orbit. The other just drops into an even closer solar orbit. Why not do that for both probes?

replies(2): >>42478018 #>>42478088 #
1. rplnt ◴[21 Dec 24 07:39 UTC] No.42478088[source]▶
You can't "just drop", it requires energy (fuel) and that's probably the answer why.