PUNCH's Orbital Friends

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PUNCH Science Nugget

Locations of other solar missions from above the solar system

PUNCH will jointly observe the Sun with many other missions. Trajectories of the Solar Orbiter, Parker Solar Probe, BepiColombo, STEREO-A, JUICE, and the 4 inner planets, spanning April 2025 through December 2029, show collaborative opportunities with PUNCH. Click on image to show animation of spacecraft and planet positions.

While making its unique observations, PUNCH will augment a fleet of international spacecraft observing the Sun and solar system, including NASA's Parker Solar Probe and STEREO missions, the European Space Agency's (ESA) Solar Orbiter and Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE) missions, and the ESA/Japanese Space Agency's (JAXA) BepiColombo mission, all of which afford unique joint science opportunities. The longitudinal trajectories of these missions are shown along with the orbits of Mercury, Venus, and Mars relative to an Earth-stationary frame of reference. On this scale, PUNCH is always located at Earth. Trajectories were generated by the Austrian Space Weather Office / GeoSphere Austria (Möstl/Davies/Weiler) – further details and additional movies available.

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