Artist's concept of MESSENGER in orbit around Mercury. Courtesy of NASA
MESSENGER stands for Mercury Surface Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging. This is the space craft launched by NASA in 2004 on the most recent mission to the planet Mercury. The space craft was launched August 3, 2004 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The objective of the messenger mission was to gather more information about Mercury focusing on its chemical composition, magnetic field, and geology. It is the second successful mission to Mercury since Mariner 10.
The Messenger mission was the first in 30 years to go to Mercury. One of the main reasons was the cost of launching a space probe. This would require special launch systems and more fuel than other missions. However it was discovered that using gravity assists in the form of slingshots would help to save fuel and make travel to Mercury more effective. One of the main challenges was slowing down the craft as it travels in the direction of the Sun’s gravity without a lot of fuel. To solve this problem three flybys starting with Earth, Venus, then Mercury were planned with final orbit insertion following. In the entire trip was 7.9 billion kilometers and took over 6 years. The craft entered orbit March 18, 2011.
The mission had specific objectives that the Messenger space probe was supposed to carry out. The first was to accurately determine the composition of Mercury’s surface. The second was to analyze the geological history of the planet. The next object was to gather data on the strength of the planet’s magnetic field and it variation with altitude and position. Along with these goals it was supposed to gather data on the nature of radar reflective materials at Mercury’s poles and look into any important volatile species on or near Mercury.
The space probe is 1.85 meters tall, 1.42 meters wide and 1.27 meters deep. The craft’s bus is constructed with four graphite fiber/ cyanate ester composite panels. These panels help support the propellant tanks, the large velocity adjust thruster, attitude monitors, and correction thrusters as well as other instrumentation for gathering data on the mission. Main propulsion is provided by a 645 N LVA thruster that is a bipropellant rocket running on hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide. Power is provided by two solar panels.
The mission is still ongoing and the craft has now started to gather data. The previous mission was only able to get information on around 40 percent of the surface of Mars. This mission will help us learn a lot more about the planet closest to the sun.
We have written many articles about MESSENGER for Universe Today. Here’s an article about how long it takes to get to Mercury, and here are some images of Venus from MESSENGER.
If you’d like more info on MESSENGER, check out the MESSENGER Mission Page. Also, check out this article from Science Daily.
We’ve also recorded an entire episode of Astronomy Cast all about Mercury. Listen here, Episode 49: Mercury.
References:
http://www.aeromorning.com/en/news.php?id_newss=48200&numnews=20
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