Slashdot Log In
NASA Spacecraft Set to Shine Spotlight on Mercury
Posted by
ScuttleMonkey
on Mon Jan 07, 2008 07:30 PM
from the long-lead-time dept.
from the long-lead-time dept.
coondoggie writes to tell us Network World is reporting that NASA will this month see the realization of a mission launched in 2004, sent to explore the planet Mercury. "MESSENGER, launched in 2004, is the first NASA mission sent to orbit Mercury, the planet closest to the sun. But on Jan. 14 it will pass close by the planet and use Mercury's gravity for a critical assist needed to keep the spacecraft on track for its ultimate orbit around the planet three years from now. Still, the spacecraft is also expected to throw back some never-before -seen images, NASA said. The flyby also will gather essential data for planning the overall mission. After flybys of Earth, Venus, and Mercury, it will start a year-long orbital study of Mercury in March 2011, NASA said. "
Related Stories
[+]
Messenger Flies by Mercury 170 comments
Riding with Robots writes "Today, more than three decades after the last spacecraft visited Mercury, Messenger buzzed just 200 kilometers above the planet's surface. During the encounter, the robotic spacecraft conducted a range of scientific observations, including imaging swaths of Mercury's surface that have never been seen up close before. A few of the first pictures are now available, with many more to come in the next few days."
[+]
Messenger Probe Sends Back Mercury Photos 137 comments
arbitraryaardvark writes "NASA's Messenger probe flew past Mercury at a distance of 125 miles. The spacecraft took hundreds of pictures during the pass, updating photos from the now 30-year-old Mariner mission. According to an article at the International Business Times, the probe will eventually settle into orbit around Mercury in 2011. 'The images obtained by the $446 million MESSENGER mission (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) this week contain some of those unexplored areas. One image released Saturday was taken after Messenger made its closest approach to Mercury last week. In the photos released this week, scientists have observed unexplored cratered areas of the planet. On Monday, Messenger made its closest approach to Mercury yet, aiming for new discoveries. Among its goals is to discover if Mercury has ice water in its polar craters and to complete the mapping of the whole planet.' Meanwhile here on Earth, a joint EU/Japan probe with an ion drive is set to head towards Mercury sometime in 2013."
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Full
Abbreviated
Hidden
Loading... please wait.
No, no, no...didn't they read the book? (Score:3, Informative)
Popular teen author Vonnegut (Score:2)
Must be weird living on a planet where the day (=159 Earth days) is longer than it's year (59 Earth days)
Why so long . . . (Score:4, Informative)
It's pretty easy to get into an elliptical orbit which stretches from Earth's orbit around the Sun to Mercury's orbit around the sun. But getting into a circular orbit means matching Mercury's velocity, and doing so in a way that lets a "burn" be made to actually enter into an orbit around the planet. As I recall, you need a total velocity change of 40 kps to get into orbit around Mercury. That more than twice the change required to get into an orbit around Mars.
It's pretty impressive that NASA figured out a way to do this with a gravity assist. A proposed European probe would have used an ion rocket to make the velocity change.
Re:Why so long . . . (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, actually, Mercury's low orbital velocity. It's more than Earth's, but when that elliptical transfer orbit reaches Mercury's orbit, the spacecraft is purely hauling ass. It actually takes a negative delta-V to match velocities.
To reach a superior planet (one outside your own orbit) you initiate the transfer orbit with a positive delta-V, then circularize it with another positive delta-V when you get there. For an inferior planet (inside your orbit), substitute "negative" for "positive" in both places.
rj
Parent
Re:Why so long . . . (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Why so long . . . (Score:4, Funny)
And as a NASA employee, can you give us an insider's take on the mission?
Parent
Not the first mission to Mercury (Score:4, Informative)
"http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/past/mariner10.html"
It was also the first mission to use a gravity assist. At the time of launch the rotation period of Mercury was unknown. By an amazing coincidence, every pass of the spacecraft photographed the SAME FACE of the planet, as its rotation period matched exactly the interval of Mariner 10's return.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Of course they've never been seen. (Score:5, Funny)
Am I the only Slashdotter who looked at this and thought, "Of course they've never been seen, they haven't even been taken yet." Yes, yes, I know what they meant, but couldn't they have said what they meant instead of something dramatic but wrong?
OK, folks, see if you can manage to mod me down with a -1 Pedant, now.
Oblig Hedberg (Score:5, Funny)
ALL PICTURES OF YOU ARE OF YOU WHEN YOU WERE YOUNGER.
Heres a picture of me when i'm older....
You son of a bitch, where did you get that camera?
Ah, how i wish Mitch [wikipedia.org] was still rambling.
Parent
Bright light! Bright light! (Score:5, Funny)
I can't imagine they'd need any more light on Mercury, what with the sun just 36 million miles off and all.
Nice alliteration, btw.
Re: (Score:2)
Shine a spotlight? (Score:3, Interesting)
Poor choice of a metaphor in the heading; had me thinking there was some illumination involved.
hmm... (Score:2)
Orbital Mechanics FTW (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
While its impossible to calculate these trajectories exactly by hand, its easy
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
not JPL!! NSFW gay porn video link! (Score:2, Informative)
Scam redirect!
Gay male porn video link in parent!
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Looks like you did too.
Re:Refrence for Mecury day (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/planets/mercury/ [enchantedlearning.com]
"Until 1962 it was thought that Mercury's "day" was the same length as its "year" so as to keep that same face to the Sun much as the Moon does to the Earth. But this was shown to be false in 1965 by doppler radar observations. It is now known that Mercury rotates three times in two of its years. Mercury is the only body in the solar system known to have an orbital/rotational resonance with a ratio other than 1:1 (though many have no resonances at all)."
Parent