Abstract
While not specifically designed as a planetary mission, NASA’s Parker
Solar Probe (PSP) mission uses a series of Venus gravity assists (VGAs)
in order to reduce its perihelion distance. These orbital maneuvers
provide the opportunity for direct measurements of the Venus plasma
environment at high cadence. We present first observations of kinetic
scale turbulence in the Venus magnetosheath from the first two VGAs. In
VGA1, PSP observed a quasi-parallel shock,
$\beta\sim1$ magnetosheath plasma, and a
kinetic range scaling of $k^{-2.9}$. VGA2 was characterised by a
quasi-perpendicular shock with $\beta\sim
10$, and a steep $k^{-3.4}$ spectral scaling. Temperature
anisotropy measurements from VGA2 suggest an active mirror mode
instability. Significant coherent waves are present in both encounters
at sub-ion and electron scales. Using conditioning techniques to exclude
these electromagnetic wave events suggests the presence of developed
sub-ion kinetic turbulence in both magnetosheath encounters.