Messenger Zeros In On Mercury

Messenger's nineteenth trajectory-correction maneuver (TCM-19) completed on December 19 lasted 110 seconds and adjusted the spacecraft's velocity by 1.1 meters per second (3.6 feet per second). The movement targeted the spacecraft close to the intended aim point 200 km (124 miles) above the night-side surface of Mercury for the probe's first flyby of that planet on January 14, 2008.

"We're now set for our flyby," added Messenger Principal Investigator Sean Solomon. "Achieving our aim point not only will give us our first close-up view of Mercury in nearly 33 years; it will ensure that we continue on the trajectory needed to place, for the first time, a spacecraft into orbit around the innermost planet three years later."


Source

reply to post by Enceladus

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This is amazing. Can't wait to set eyes on the pictures and data sent back.

Thanks for posting.

[edit on 2007/12/24 by SteveR]

reply to post by Enceladus

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It's about time we learn a bit more about this planet. The information that we do have is, for the most part, older than half the members on this forum.

Good post, and an interesting thread. I will be watching for further updates.

Hey! I almost forgot about this mission, thanks for reminding me. I just can't wait to see all the juicy images. While Mercury (visually) may not be all that interesting, it definitely has other characteristics that are worth the visit. I don't even recall seeing very detailed images of Mercury, Mariner 10 wasn't exactly a powerhouse. Not to mention that was back in 1973.

Star & Flag.

I hope that this is read by all the science-bashers and make them ashamed.

Indeed, you can call it "mainstream science" all you want, but this daring research effort shows just how much humans are capable of.

Dont get too excited, I too, would love to see good hi-res photos, just be prepared for low resolution airbrushed items just like always.
Just think about it, we don't even have decent photos of Antarctica!
Living in hope,
Horsegiver.

reply to post by horsegiver

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We're going to get really high resolution pictures as always. Every single mission to date has offered us virgin photos without any external manipulation, in fact, you can find a lot on NASA's website. I don't suppose folks would go looking there, oh no, they're obviously going to log your I.P!

Anyways, with the capability to show us surface features accurately in the 60 feet range... That's pretty awesome. I just don't think we'll get much from this first flyby, remember, it's not going to be in orbit until 2011 and that's when they're going to start their full analysis with all their tools engaged.

according to the NASA website, the mission will not start until March 2011 (when MESSENGER gets into a orbit around Mercury). This is the first of 3 Mercury flyby's before the final science starting orbit. No new info probably would come from this flyby....

Excellent. We definitely need to learn more about the little rock. It would be an economical location for a solar power station given a viable means of energy transport.

Well that would be a good idea, but there are a few problems. The planet rotates around the sun every 88 days, and it rotates around its axis three times for every 2 rotations around the sun. That would require 4 or so satellites of some kind in stationary orbit to transmit the power back to us (since we are not always in a line of sight with the planet. One possible idea would be solar collection with transmission via Microwave. I still think there is potential with the electric universe theory - maybe electric plasma or something. Just my 2 cents.

reply to post by harddrive21

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so that means the statelite would also be ablw to look outwards to prove it htere are any planets on the same orbit as us. Either getting rid of the Counter-Earth theories or proving them?

Which would could be the source of UFOs couldn't it?

reply to post by puzzled2

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Wow - never heard of this one...So Counter-Earth would be in our orbit exactly at the opposite end...so when we are at perihelion, they would be at aphelion?

I prefer the easiest explanation - newer physics theories provide ideas of faster than light travel or wormholes. We were not the first things on this planet (dinosaurs, etc), if a civilization had a 1,000,000 year they may have developed this technology.

Quite Quite wonderful!

It's a disgrace you know, I've still yet to look at elusive little Mercury through a telescope! Actually, I don't think I've seen it with the naked eye either!
Looking forward to seeing what surprises might lay in store. Anyone got any sensible predictions as to what Messenger might find?

[edit on 4-1-2008 by timelike]

You really have a humorus way with words. Thanks a million for saying what's on my mind.

MESSENGER Set for Historic Mercury Flyby

NASA will return to Mercury for the first time in almost 33 years on January 14, 2008, when the MESSENGER spacecraft makes its first flyby of the Sun’s closest neighbor, capturing images of large portions of the planet never before seen. The probe will make its closest approach to Mercury at 2:04 p.m. EST that day, skimming 200 kilometers (124 miles) above its surface. This encounter will provide a critical gravity assist needed to keep the spacecraft on track for its 2011 orbit insertion around Mercury.

“The MESSENGER Science Team is extremely excited about this flyby,” says Dr. Sean C. Solomon, MESSENGER principal investigator, from the Carnegie Institution of Washington. “ We are about to enjoy our first close-up view of Mercury in more than three decades, and a successful gravity assist will ensure that MESSENGER remains on the trajectory needed to place it into orbit around the innermost planet for the first time.”

Complete article here

Messenger flew within 124 miles of Mercury today. I hope we see some uneditted clean/clear photo's. Maybe seeing the pictures of Mercurys surface can help us determine if the Sun is nuclear or electromagnetic.

Images and data are arriving from MESSENGER’s recent flyby of Mercury. Scientists from NASA and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab are pouring over high resolution images of the side of the planet that has never before been imaged by a spacecraft.

Click here to view images of Mercury

[edit on 17-1-2008 by Enceladus]

Great thank you for these. I realized today that ATS would be a good place to visit to talk to people about MESSENGER or at least to lurk in a thread to keep on top of any new photos. These sure are great images, especially that one they posted today (Jan 17) that's a great clear picture. It looks geologically dead like the moon.

Why do these photos have to be in black and white? I would love to get an idea what the real Mercury would look like. Is it very dark or very reflective? I guess it's full of scorched iron and it doesn't rust so there's no oxygen there to make it red, so it stays dark and ruddy?

What does Mercury look like close up?

So, can't wait for the evidence of alien life on Mercury posts and threads
Oi, but those are interesting photos to me, looks a lot like the moon as far as I'm concerned though, not much of a planet person.

Let's enjoy these splendid pictures in peace and quiet for a few days, there's so much going on in the political boards that this hasn't really grabbed anybody's attention. The old Mariner photos cover less than half of Mercury and at a worse resolution so this is the most excited new image I've seen since Cassini.

Mercury has a thin atmosphere, that's one of the things MESSENGER plans to test in 2011 when it finally gets to visit the planet up close, now that would be interesting to me, figuring out what kind of atmosphere could stand up to days that last a year and not be boiled off into outer space sounds like a good mystery to try to solve. Mercury is very dense, the main theory is that lighter elements get blasted away by the planet's proximity to the sun, the extreme cold, the extreme heat.

There are also strange reflections in the craters on the north and south poles and the possibility of something frozen up there and down there at the poles.

[edit on 18-1-2008 by Brock Gel]