Parker Solar Probe: Mission Operations Challenges during Commissioning and Beyond

NASA's Parker Solar Probe (PSP) will be the first mission to “touch” the Sun. PSP will travel directly into the Sun's atmosphere about 4 million miles from the surface, much closer than any other spacecraft. About the size of a small car, the spacecraft will complete its scientific objectives by exploring the inner region of the heliosphere, performing in-situ and remote sensing observations of the magnetic field, plasma, and accelerated particles. Parker Solar Probe is designed to complete 24 solar encounters over its seven-year mission, using seven Venus gravity assists that reduce the size of its heliocentric orbit, enabling the spacecraft to get progressively closer to the Sun. The mission trajectory coupled with the extreme solar environment and resulting spacecraft complexity pose some unique challenges for mission operations. This paper describes the operational challenges associated with commissioning Parker Solar Probe, executing its first Venus Flyby and completing its first solar encounter in less than only three months' time after launch. Anomalies that occurred during commissioning, subsequent recovery operations and operational lessons learned are also discussed. Finally, the operational processes and software tools used to manage the mission's unique operational constraints to support orbit planning, command sequencing and real-time operations are discussed.