Mercury Orbit Insertion, Events and Discussion leading up to MOI |
Mercury Orbit Insertion, Events and Discussion leading up to MOI |
Jan 25 2011, 02:18 PM
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#31
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Member Group: Members Posts: 146 Joined: 31-October 08 Member No.: 4473 |
Messenger is at its last Aphelion before capture into Mercury orbit. Cool (well, as cool as it will ever again get, unless it goes into Mercury's shadow....)
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Jan 25 2011, 09:35 PM
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#32
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Solar System Cartographer Group: Members Posts: 10256 Joined: 5-April 05 From: Canada Member No.: 227 |
35 million km away... I wonder if there will be any good approach imaging?
Phil -------------------- ... because the Solar System ain't gonna map itself.
Also to be found posting similar content on https://mastodon.social/@PhilStooke Maps for download (free PDF: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm...Cartography.pdf NOTE: everything created by me which I post on UMSF is considered to be in the public domain (NOT CC, public domain) |
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Feb 22 2011, 12:00 AM
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#33
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Member Group: Members Posts: 146 Joined: 31-October 08 Member No.: 4473 |
At Messenger's current distance from Mercury, a sharp-eyed human observer would be able to make out the tiny crescent shape. It won't be long now. Will any navigation images be released, I wonder?
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Feb 22 2011, 09:03 AM
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#34
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Member Group: Members Posts: 655 Joined: 22-January 06 Member No.: 655 |
A little over three weeks to go! - have been genning-up on the upcoming orbit insertion and the mission generally - very much looking forward to results from the mission (especially the data on any volatiles at the poles)
The orbit insertion is unusual I believe; in that the burn and turns will be 'line of sight' from earth throughout, so no nail-biting, peanut-eating occultation phase whilst we wait for re-acquisition of signal to confirm whether insertion went as planned. Four DSN stations will be tracking, with a fifth as backup during OI. Full information at the official site here Astonishing that the spacecraft has travelled 4.8 billion miles already - enough to take it well past Pluto's orbit had it been heading outwards from the sun. We've been spoiled by having unfettered access to all the raw images from the MER's and Cassini as soon as they're available, but I understand this won't be the case with Messenger, so we'll have to be patient with image releases as this mission unfolds... Incidentally, if all goes to plan, by August this year there will be amazingly, functioning spacecraft in orbit at : Mercury (1) Venus (1) Earth (dozens) Moon (2) Mars (3) +2 on the surface Vesta (1) Saturn (1) Very lucky to be living through this era. |
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Feb 22 2011, 04:33 PM
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#35
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1598 Joined: 14-October 05 From: Vermont Member No.: 530 |
Come on, Juno, you're late.
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Feb 23 2011, 09:16 PM
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#36
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Member Group: Members Posts: 163 Joined: 16-March 05 From: Oakville, Ontario, Canada Member No.: 201 |
Been trying to find what the Delta-V is for the burn? Going to be neat to see the burn in "real time" watching the progress of the burn for a change.
jb |
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Feb 23 2011, 11:07 PM
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#37
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 51 Joined: 31-December 10 From: Earth Member No.: 5589 |
Been trying to find what the Delta-V is for the burn? Going to be neat to see the burn in "real time" watching the progress of the burn for a change. jb According to this website: http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/orbit_insertio...tionkeeping.htm, "MESSENGER's thrusters must slow the spacecraft by just over 0.86 kilometers (0.53 miles) per second." |
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Feb 24 2011, 12:28 AM
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#38
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2922 Joined: 14-February 06 From: Very close to the Pyrénées Mountains (France) Member No.: 682 |
Come on, Juno, you're late. And Voyager's?...probably out of this world -------------------- |
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Feb 24 2011, 11:31 AM
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#39
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Member Group: Members Posts: 796 Joined: 27-February 08 From: Heart of Europe Member No.: 4057 |
And Voyager's?...probably out of this world Maybe this way: Functioning spacecraft in orbit (VIII.2011) at: Mercury (1) Venus (1) Earth (legions) Moon (2) Mars (3) +2? on the surface Vesta (1) Saturn (1) Sun (several (>7)) Milky Way's central BH (3) -------------------- |
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Feb 24 2011, 02:11 PM
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#40
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Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 4763 Joined: 15-March 05 From: Glendale, AZ Member No.: 197 |
Functioning spacecraft in orbit (VIII.2011) at: ... Earth (dozens) ... I believe the number is in the thousands, somewhere around 3,000 functioning satellites in orbit. -------------------- If Occam had heard my theory, things would be very different now.
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Feb 24 2011, 02:13 PM
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#41
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Member Group: Members Posts: 796 Joined: 27-February 08 From: Heart of Europe Member No.: 4057 |
Updated
-------------------- |
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Feb 24 2011, 07:43 PM
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#42
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Member Group: Members Posts: 163 Joined: 16-March 05 From: Oakville, Ontario, Canada Member No.: 201 |
According to this website: http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/orbit_insertio...tionkeeping.htm, "MESSENGER's thrusters must slow the spacecraft by just over 0.86 kilometers (0.53 miles) per second." ok..I was blind...no idea how i missed that.... thanks for the link jb |
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Mar 7 2011, 02:53 AM
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#43
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 30 Joined: 5-September 07 From: High Bridge, New Jersey, USA Member No.: 3669 |
Quiet here in this thread, less that 2 weeks from orbital insertion!!
Wayne |
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Mar 7 2011, 02:58 AM
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#44
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Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 3108 Joined: 21-December 05 From: Canberra, Australia Member No.: 615 |
Everyone's just cruisin' I guess!
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Mar 7 2011, 04:55 AM
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#45
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8789 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
No news is good news now. I expect the future Messenger main mission thread(s) to get very busy indeed, though...Mercury is not as simple as it seems. (Disclaimer: no inside knowledge claimed, just a very confident prediction. We've consistently found that upon close enough examination no Solar System body is merely a nondescript rock...in itself, one of the most profound revelations of UMSF.) -------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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