Mercury Flyby 3 Options

[Greg Hullender]

We're now just one Mercury year (88 days) from flyby #3, which happens on September 29, 2009, so this seems like a good time to start a thread about it.

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/index.php

For comparison purposes, it'd be nice if someone (probably someone on the Messenger team) put together a Mercury Map showing what areas will get better coverage from this flyby than from the previous ones. I realize it'll be very similar to flyby #1, but it won't be exactly the same.

After that, it's a long wait until MOI on March 18, 2011. Curiously, that's the same date the New Horizons crosses the orbit of Uranus.

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/mission/passingpla...ets_current.php


--Greg

[tanjent]

The mission website discussion of the orbital phase does not say much about how the mission will end.

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/the_mission/orbit.html

Maintaining the orbit will require continued fuel consumption.
The page does not reveal if, after 12 months or 2 solar days they expect to simply run the tank dry and
lose contact with the spacecraft, or what other sort of ending will follow. I have heard no
proposals for extending the mission, but somewhere near the end - after completion of all the major objectives
a moment may come when otherwise unacceptable risks can be considered. My little suggestion represents just one
possibility - maybe not a very strong candidate, but if the mission can end with an attention-grabbing "goodbye" shot,
there would be some value in that.

Dmuller, thanks for pointing out the big advantage in apparent size still enjoyed by the sun at the present time.