MESSENGER ARRIVES, Mercury Orbit Insertion |
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MESSENGER ARRIVES, Mercury Orbit Insertion |
 Mar 18 2011, 12:57 AM
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#16
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 IMG to PNG GOD  Group: Moderator Posts: 1342 Joined: 19-February 04 From: Near fire and ice Member No.: 38  |
"Thruster firing, everything looking just perfect"
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Mar 18 2011, 01:00 AM
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#17
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 Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 2442 Joined: 21-December 05 From: Canberra, Australia Member No.: 615 |
Gotta say that I'm enjoying the JHU/APL broadcast. Very slick. Live audience adds a nice element.
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Mar 18 2011, 01:04 AM
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#18
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Member Group: Members Posts: 156 Joined: 20-September 05 From: North Texas Member No.: 503 |
Emily has a great Twitter feed going, if you can't view the Webcast. Follow her at @elakdalla.
ADMIN: http://twitter.com/elakdawalla |
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Mar 18 2011, 01:06 AM
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#19
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 Member Group: Members Posts: 967 Joined: 26-July 08 Member No.: 4270 |
MESSENGER is in orbit of Mercury now.
-------------------- -- Hungry4info (Sirius_Alpha)
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Mar 18 2011, 01:09 AM
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#20
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Member Group: Members Posts: 967 Joined: 26-July 08 Member No.: 4270 |
End of main burn, tweaking now.
Edit: Lots of clapping, handshakes, looks like everything went just perfectly! Waiting on data from spacecraft to confirm. Edit2: High rate telemetry is being received. We know now the burn did last as long as expected. Edit3: Official confirmation of successful MOI burn. Made the target to within 0.5-sigma. -------------------- -- Hungry4info (Sirius_Alpha)
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Mar 18 2011, 01:59 AM
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#21
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 Member Group: Members Posts: 713 Joined: 29-December 05 From: NE Oh, USA Member No.: 627 |
unmanned spacecraft in orbit.. firsts..
1966 Luna 10 Moon 1971 Mariner 9 Mars 1975 Venera 8 Venus Venera 9 was the first Venus orbiter. Venera 8 was a lander with a flyby bus. 1995 Galileo Jupiter 2004 Cassini Saturn 2011 Messenger Mercury Lived through all of them.... HOW SWEET IT IS! i ate peanuts Congrats team! |
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Mar 18 2011, 01:59 AM
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#22
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 Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 21 Joined: 6-March 10 From: London, Ontario, CANADA Member No.: 5247 |
Messenger is confirmed to be in orbit around Mercury -Hooray!!
...Now the serious visit begins! -pjam -------------------- "We absolutely must leave room for doubt or there is no progress and there is no learning." -Richard P. Feynman
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Mar 18 2011, 02:14 AM
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#23
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Member Group: Members Posts: 713 Joined: 29-December 05 From: NE Oh, USA Member No.: 627 |
And... of course...
Sputnik 1957 Earth... the shot that started it all... yeah Earth is a planet. Glorious 54 years... I was 4 that year. Craig |
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Mar 18 2011, 03:12 AM
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#24
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 Member Group: Members Posts: 881 Joined: 30-January 05 Member No.: 162 |
Was super busy all day today, and just now came to this thread, and with a rising sense of anticipation, read all the posts.
Whew! And attaboys and 'ham sammiches' to everyone! I did go out the other night to see Mercury and Jupiter after sunset, and was hoping all was well. |
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Mar 18 2011, 03:54 AM
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#25
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 Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 91 Joined: 29-July 05 From: Amsterdam, NL Member No.: 448 |
At long last, MESSENGER enters orbit! Congrats to the team and let the science begin (following check out, of course)!
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Mar 18 2011, 06:22 AM
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#26
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 Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1152 Joined: 3-August 06 From: 43° 35' 53" N 1° 26' 35" E Member No.: 1004 |
QUOTE (belleraphon1 @ Mar 18 2011, 02:59 AM)  unmanned spacecraft in orbit.. firsts.. you forgot poor Eros... -------------------- I'm one of the most durable and fervent advocates of space exploration, but my take is that we could do it robotically at far less cost and far greater quantity and quality of results.
James Van Allen |
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Mar 18 2011, 06:27 AM
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#27
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 Member Group: Members Posts: 623 Joined: 13-February 10 From: Vancouver, British Columbia Member No.: 5221 |
And Itokawa! (if it counts as 'orbiting' at all....)
-------------------- To a body of infinite size there can be ascribed neither centre nor boundary... Thus the Earth no more than any other world is at the centre. -Giordano Bruno, 1584.
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Mar 18 2011, 07:19 AM
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#28
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1152 Joined: 3-August 06 From: 43° 35' 53" N 1° 26' 35" E Member No.: 1004 |
Itokawa was too small. Hayabusa didn't do much orbiting, only station keeping in solar orbit
-------------------- I'm one of the most durable and fervent advocates of space exploration, but my take is that we could do it robotically at far less cost and far greater quantity and quality of results.
James Van Allen |
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Mar 18 2011, 07:45 AM
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#29
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 Member Group: Members Posts: 135 Joined: 23-August 06 From: Vriezenveen, Netherlands Member No.: 1067 |
Congrats! Great to hear that it worked!
@Volcanopele you can find good spice kernels on the NAIF FTP site in the PDS folder for use in Celestia, including the main mission period. |
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Mar 18 2011, 08:17 AM
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#30
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 The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5548 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
Fantastic news! And if you haven't seen it already, Emily has made an absolutely gorgeous pic for her blog, showing Mercury's size compared to other familiar bodies in the solar system...
http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002965 -------------------- |
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Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 19th June 2013 - 12:41 AM |
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