The probe’s flyby provided enough data to calculate Venus’ ionosphere density / NASA
NASA captured the haunting sounds emanating from the upper atmosphere of Venus during the close flyby of the Parker spacecraft launched to study the Sun. The natural radio signal helps scientists study its atmosphere.
Space NASA intercepted the sounds as Parker made its closest orbit around the planet, only 832 kilometers above the surface of Venus. This solar probe detected a radio signal with a terrifying soundtrack on its third flyby of Venus.
This flight was the first direct measurement of Venus’ atmosphere in almost 30 years – and according to a new study of the data, it looks quite different from the past. A new study has found that the upper atmosphere of Venus undergoes mysterious changes during the solar cycle – an 11-year cycle of the Sun’s activity. This is the last key to how and why Venus and Earth differ so much, even though they formed during a similar process.
Both planets are rocky and similar in size and structure, but their evolutionary paths differed. Venus lacks a magnetic field and its surface can only study a few hours at temperatures high enough to melt lead. The study of Venus, however inhospitable, helps scientists understand how these planets evolved and what makes Earth-like planets habitable or uninhabitable.
The signal was detected during the third flyby, and eventually, as it approaches the solar atmosphere, the spacecraft will travel at 692,000 kilometers per hour, making it the fastest spacecraft ever created by humans.
Glyn Collison of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, the lead scientist in the study, examined all the Venus data available from this and previous missions. The Parker Solar Probe also contains a device designed to measure electric and magnetic fields in the solar atmosphere. During a seven-minute flight around Venus, this device detected a natural low-frequency radio signal coming from the upper atmosphere.
The probe’s flyby provided enough data to calculate Venus’ ionosphere density. According to measurements, the ionosphere of Venus is thinning near the solar minimum. This will help scientists determine how Venus, once so similar to Earth that it could be habitable and had running water, eventually became a scorching world full of toxic atmospheres.
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