Thought it was time to start a new thread, since MESSENGER has definitely arrived! Reserved for post-commissioning observations.
Prime mission underway.
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=166
Astro0's mosaic from the end of the previous thread can be extended with this image:
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/gallery/sciencePhotos/image.php?page=2&gallery_id=2&image_id=439
Phil
Just saw this:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/science/jan-june11/solarstorm.html
Would a direct hit have really ended the mission before it began? Scary if true!
A bad enough hit could kill any spacecraft, especially in the inner solar system.
I see the probe is making passes over the north pole of the planet. When can we expect data regarding the composition of north pole. I'd really like to know it is has ice there.
Alan
From:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/48850455/Messenger-Fact-Sheet-2001
polar cap volatiles– The gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer will determine if Mercury’s polar caps contain hydrogen in water ice, and the laser altimeter will map the caps’ topography and thickness. The particle and plasma and UV spectrometers will detect effluent from the frozen volatiles, even if the cap is formed of elemental sulfur.
Phil
First laser track made from orbit has been released.
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/soc/highlights.html
This is on a generic link for science highlights, so likely only to be there a few days.
They caught a radar bright crater on this very first pass.
Update: the link for the report on the laser has been archived http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/soc/hl_042611.html
Announcement on the Messenger http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/index.php:
The "JPEG" compression artifacts are likely due to the onboard wavelet compression, necessary because of limits of onboard memory and downlink bandwidth (remember that MESSENGER does not have a HGA because its pointing is so tightly constrained by the thermal environment; instead it has a steerable phase-array thingamabob that they call the "MGA"). From http://img.pds.nasa.gov/documentation/MDIS_CDR_RDRSIS.PDF:
It looks comparable in quality to what the Surveyor landers sent back as they approached the moon, except I think those contained white framing marks.
Does anyone have any idea where to find the description of the compression algorithm? Apparently it is in a document called:
MDIS Compression Description, Pat Murphy
(Which doesn't appear to be available anywhere on the internet.)
NASA is going to have a science update June 16th on early results from MESSENGER. It will be at 1pm (presumably Eastern Time). No other details as yet.
that looks like a press briefing just before publication in Science the next day...
Based on the surprisingly large variety of small-scale albedo features, I think that even early minerology results may prove VERY interesting. Fingers crossed...
Initial results are being announced today, some of which are already on the MESSENGER website.
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=174
Multimedia for the upcoming press conference (due to start in just five minutes) are now available too.
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/presscon_multi9.html
Edit at ten minutes past the hour: News conference underway on NASA TV. Huge volcanic deposit at north pole.
Half past the hour: High level of potassium and sulfur, much higher amounts of volatiles than thought. Not so much iron and titanium as was thought from the flybys. Magnetic field way offset toward the north.
I had to answer my door and missed what Sean Solomon said about water ice at the poles. Did anybody hear?
Missing raw image access on this mission - I think we've been spoilt by the MER's and Cassini.
Solomon also repeated his statements at the end, in reply to a question, and said that if the radar bright deposits are mostly water (the jury is still out), then Mercury likely has more water than the moon.
Oooh. Cool. Thanks for the summary.
There's a hilarious conversation going on on Twitter right now about the MESSENGER scientists' remarks about "Mercury is not dead like the Moon."
I love the pictures of the small volcanic vents. It's interesting to compare them with Ina (AKA D-Caldera) and the cluster of smaller features inside Hyginus on the Moon.
Phil
Anyone know if there is a link to a video replay of this? I searched but I'm not finding anything.
EDIT: I see it's being replayed at 4:00 my local time.
Here you go:
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6875:nasa-messenger-science-news-conference&catid=1:latest
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org rocks!
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