Parker Solar Probe Detects Radio Emission in Venus’s Atmosphere

by Ryan Whitwam

The Parker spacecraft was launched several years ago to study the sun, and that remains its primary mission. However, the solar probe has also made some close passes of the inner planets. A new study reveals that Parker got so close to Venus that it picked up a natural radar ping, proving it passed through the planet’s upper atmosphere. This is the first direct measurement of Venus’s atmosphere in decades, and it looks much different than the last time.

Depending on your frame of reference, the Parker Solar Probe is already the fastest spacecraft ever launched, and it’s getting faster with each gravity assist. It was during one of these gravity assists in July 2020 when the vessel passed just 517 miles (833 km) above the planet’s surface. For seven minutes during its flyby, Parker’s FIELDS instrument detected a natural, low-frequency signal. Glyn Collison of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center quickly realized what they had, drawing on his work on the Galileo orbiter. That mission detected a similar radio hum each time it skimmed the atmosphere of Jupiter’s moons.

Venus and Earth are very similar planets in terms of composition and size, but Earth is a lush blue marble. Venus, on the other hand, is a barren wasteland with a crushing atmospheric pressure and clouds of…