[meteorite-list] Spacecraft Data Confirm MESSENGER Orbit and Operation

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2011 13:55:11 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201103222055.p2MKtBjQ024033_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=163

MESSENGER Mission News
March 21, 2011

Spacecraft Data Confirm MESSENGER Orbit and Operation

Data from its first three days in orbit about Mercury have confirmed the
initial assessment of the spacecraft team that MESSENGER is in its
intended orbit and operating nominally.

"The team is relieved that things have gone so well, but they remain
busy as they continue to configure the spacecraft for orbital operations
and monitor its health and safety in the new environment," says
MESSENGER Project Manager Peter Bedini, of the Johns Hopkins University
Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.

Today the navigation team delivered an orbit determination that will
span MESSENGER's first four weeks in orbit. Starting on March 23, 2011,
the team will begin commissioning the science instruments. That day the
Energetic Particle and Plasma Spectrometer, Magnetometer, Mercury
Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer, Mercury Laser
Altimeter, Neutron Spectrometer, and X-Ray Spectrometer will be turned on.

On March 29, 2011, the Mercury Dual Imaging System will be powered on
and will take its first images. The year-long science observation
campaign will begin on April 4, 2011.

"We are about to embark on the first essentially continuous observations
of Mercury by an orbiting spacecraft," adds MESSENGER Principal
investigator Sean Solomon, of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.
"It will be a shared adventure long anticipated and much to be relished."

You can follow MESSENGER's journey in its orbit about Mercury with the
newly revised "Where Is MESSENGER?"
<http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/whereis/indexNew.php> website feature,
which offers simulated views of the spacecraft's current orbit and what
Mercury looks like from MESSENGER's current perspective. The Solar
System Simulator <http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/> offers another option for
portraying Mercury from the perspective of the MESSENGER spacecraft at
any time during the remainder of the mission. Simulated views of nearby
Mercury or distant Earth from MESSENGER may be created for a variety of
fields of view.

For complete information on MESSENGER's Mercury orbital operations, go
online to http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/mer_orbit.html.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mercury's "Secrets"

Stuart Atkinson - a lifelong amateur astronomer and author of 10
children's astronomy and spaceflight books - has penned a poem entitled
'Secrets," on the occasion of MESSENGER's Mercury orbit insertion. The
poem is available online at http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/poem3.html. It
is Atkinson's third MESSENGER-inspired poem, and all are now posted on
the project website.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

MESSENGER - Mercury Week for Brewster Rockit: Space Guy!

During the week of the Mercury orbit insertion maneuver (March 14-19,
2011), the MESSENGER mission was featured in a series of comic strips by
Tim Rickart. To see those /Brewster Rockit: Space Guy!/ strips, go to
http://www.gocomics.com/brewsterrockit/ and use the calendar navigator
to view the cartoons for the appropriate dates.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and
Ranging) is a NASA-sponsored scientific investigation of the planet
Mercury and the first space mission designed to orbit the planet closest
to the Sun. The MESSENGER spacecraft launched on August 3, 2004, and
after flybys of Earth, Venus, and Mercury will start a yearlong study of
its target planet in March 2011. Dr. Sean C. Solomon, of the Carnegie
Institution of Washington, leads the mission as Principal Investigator.
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory built and operates
the MESSENGER spacecraft and manages this Discovery-class mission for NASA.
Received on Tue 22 Mar 2011 04:55:11 PM PDT