* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: MESSENGER

Blobrana · L

The Messenger space probe successfully made its near flyby of Mercury on Monday.
At nearest approach the probe flew only 200 kilometres above the surface collecting 1,200 images for the surface. This is the first time, since Mariner 10 visited the planet in 1975, that a spaceprobe has had such a close look at the planet.

A crescent view of Mercury taken by MESSENGER when it was about 760,000 kilometres from the planet between January 9 and January 13, 2008.
Credit: NASA/APL

Mercury Click to Play | View Details

Blobrana · L

Time Since Closest Approach:	01:00:49 (hh:mm:ss)
Altitude:	20,045 km (12,456 mi)
Visible Surface Sunlit:	81.1%
NAC Resolution At Image Center:	520.61 m/pixel
WAC Resolution At Image Center:	3.64 km/pixel
Surface Coordinates At Image Center:	25.20 º N 137.20 º E

Blobrana · L

Time Since Closest Approach:	00:45:04 (hh:mm:ss)
Altitude:	14,453 km (8,981 mi)
Visible Surface Sunlit:	79.9%
NAC Resolution At Image Center:	369.66 m/pixel
WAC Resolution At Image Center:	2.59 km/pixel
Surface Coordinates At Image Center:	2.05 º S 128.44 º E

Blobrana · L

MESSENGERs engineering and operations teams convened at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., early this morning to confirm the health and readiness of the spacecraft.
At 7:56 a.m. EST the last bits of data from the spacecraft were received as it transitioned from high-gain downlink to beacon-only operations, turning the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) instrument toward the planet to start the approach colour movie sequence. For the next 24 hours or so, the spacecraft will take three colour frames of the planet every 20 minutes. When MESSENGER approaches within 39,000 kilometres of Mercury, the Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer instrument will start interleaving sweeps of the planets anti-sunward tail at ultraviolet and visible wavelengths.

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Blobrana · L

The first spacecraft to visit Mercury in more than 30 years passes the planet on Monday at a distance of just 200km.
The fly-by is the first of three the Messenger probe will make in the coming years as it slows itself to enter into orbit around the small world in 2011.
The spacecraft will collect more than 1,300 images and make other observations during the encounter.
The moment of closest approach is 19:04 GMT (14:04 EST).

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Blobrana · L

On Monday, Jan. 14, a pioneering NASA spacecraft will be the first to visit Mercury in almost 33 years when it soars over the planet to explore and snap close-up images of never-before-seen terrain. These findings could open new theories and answer old questions in the study of the solar system.
The MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging spacecraft, called MESSENGER, is the first mission sent to orbit the planet closest to our sun. Before that orbit begins in 2011, the probe will make three flights past the small planet, skimming as close as 124 miles above Mercury's cratered, rocky surface. MESSENGER's cameras and other sophisticated, high-technology instruments will collect more than 1,200 images and make other observations during this approach, encounter and departure. It will make the first up-close measurements since Mariner 10 spacecraft's third and final flyby on March 16, 1975. When Mariner 10 flew by Mercury in the mid-1970s, it surveyed only one hemisphere.

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Blobrana · L

NASA will host a media teleconference at (18:00 GMT) 1 p.m. EST on Thursday, Jan. 10, to preview the historic Jan. 14 spacecraft flight past Mercury that will explore some of the last major never-seen-before terrain in the inner solar system.

NASA's MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) is the first mission sent to orbit the planet closest to the sun. It will use Mercury's gravity for a critical assist needed to keep the spacecraft on track for its orbit insertion around the planet three years from now. During this month's Mercury pass the probe's cameras and other sophisticated, high-technology instruments will take unprecedented images and make the first up-close measurements of the planet since Mariner 10's third and final flyby on March 16, 1975. The flyby also will gather essential data for planning the overall mission. MESSENGER was launched on Aug. 3, 2004. After flybys of Earth, Venus, and Mercury, it will start a year-long orbital study of Mercury in March 2011.

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Blobrana · L

Animation of the Messenger flyby of Mercury, on January 14th, 2008, when the spaceprobe will pass only 200 km from the surface.

Messenger flyby

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Blobrana · L

MESSENGER entered solar conjunction on October 26, when the spacecrafts trajectory moved it behind the Sun and out of clear view from Earth for several weeks. The team has just a limited time left before the Suns interference with the probes radio transmission severely limits communication with mission operations at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.

We expect well be able to communicate with MESSENGER for about another week or two before we completely lose contact - APLs Andy Calloway, the mission operations manager.

Although this is the longest solar conjunction of the mission 47 days its not the first. The previous solar conjunction period began October 17, 2006 (just before the first Venus flyby on October 24, 2006), and lasted about a month, including about two weeks with no communications at all.

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