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Massive Mosaic of Mercury | Universe Today

admin — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:15:29 +0000

Massive Mosaic of Mercury | Universe Today

Messeneger Goes into “safe mode”

paul — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:38:38 +0000

Despite all the hype, the Messenger spacecraft went into safe mode on it’s flyby of Mercury yesterday. So all of the images and information it intended to send were never fully realized. It was still seen as a successful mission as its primary objective was to get the gravity assist it required to ensure a 2011 orbit insertion. It may be less than we hoped for, but the views or Mercury were still worth the wait. Next time around we should expect to see detailed mapping of the Mercury landscape, proving that even when they fail NASA still pulls off some impressive results.

MESSENGER sees a new side to Mercury

paul — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:17:44 +0000

By a new side of Mercury of course I mean totally new, never before seen, first time ever! Today is the day of the 3rd flyby, and MESSENGER has started to send back data and images. A series of high resolution image were taken which contains portions never before seen by a spacecraft. Take a look at this image. http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/gallery/sciencePhotos/image.php?gallery_id=2&image_id=333 for more pictures….

Mercury Rising..

paul — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 21:29:37 +0000

With approximately 2 days to go, the MESSENGER spacecraft took a quick snap of our Sun’s closest planet. This is the third flyby which brings the spacecraft to within 142 miles of the surface and sets the stage for Oribit insertion March 2011. For more details on this program visit http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington