by On July 11, 2020, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe made its third flyby of Venus.
During 7 min around the closest approach, one of the spacecraft’s scientific instruments detected low-frequency radio emission of a type naturally generated by planetary ionospheres.
By measuring the frequency of this radio emission, a team of NASA researchers directly calculated the density of the ionosphere around the spacecraft, finding it to be far less dense than previous missions encountered.
The results support the theory that the ionosphere of Venus varies substantially over the 11 year solar cycle.
Source
During 7 min around the closest approach, one of the spacecraft’s scientific instruments detected low-frequency radio emission of a type naturally generated by planetary ionospheres.
By measuring the frequency of this radio emission, a team of NASA researchers directly calculated the density of the ionosphere around the spacecraft, finding it to be far less dense than previous missions encountered.
The results support the theory that the ionosphere of Venus varies substantially over the 11 year solar cycle.
Source
