Space
MESSENGER Spacecraft Gears Up for Its Last Missions Ever
Catherine Griffin
First Posted: Mar 21, 2015 07:01 AM EDT
MESSENGER's mission may be ending sometime this spring when the spacecraft runs out of propellant, but it's still chugging along until then. Scientists initiated a "hover" observation campaign designed to gather scientific data from Mercury at ultra-low latitudes until the last possible moment.
A highly accurate orbit-correct maneuver (OCM) executed on Jan. 21 targeting a 15-kilometers periapsis altitude, which was the lowest to date, set the stage for the hover campaign. The top goals will be carried out with the Magnetometer (MAG) and the Neutron Spectrometer (NS).
"With MAG, we will look for crustal magnetic anomalies," said Haje Korth, MESSENGER Deputy Project Scientist, in a news release. "For instance, we have seen hints of crustal magnetization at higher altitudes over the northern rise in Mercury's northern smooth plains. We will revisit this region at lower altitudes during XM2'. There may be other regions where such signals can be observed, and we will be looking for them."
With NS, the researchers will hone in on shadowed craters with the hope of finding water ice at northern high latitudes.
"We have found such evidence previously in the mission, but we hope to find more at low altitudes and spatially resolve the distribution within individual craters if we are lucky," said Korth.
These findings are important. Establishing the presence of crustal magnetic anomalies, for example, would extend the known temporal baseline for Mercury's internal magnetic field by eight orders of magnitude.
The first maneuver for MESSENGER was successful, but researchers are still being careful with the spacecraft. While MESSENGER's mission may end soon, it's likely to unveil a host of findings before it finally retires. After 10 years in flight, the spacecraft has earned it.
For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).
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NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone
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First Posted: Mar 21, 2015 07:01 AM EDT
MESSENGER's mission may be ending sometime this spring when the spacecraft runs out of propellant, but it's still chugging along until then. Scientists initiated a "hover" observation campaign designed to gather scientific data from Mercury at ultra-low latitudes until the last possible moment.
A highly accurate orbit-correct maneuver (OCM) executed on Jan. 21 targeting a 15-kilometers periapsis altitude, which was the lowest to date, set the stage for the hover campaign. The top goals will be carried out with the Magnetometer (MAG) and the Neutron Spectrometer (NS).
"With MAG, we will look for crustal magnetic anomalies," said Haje Korth, MESSENGER Deputy Project Scientist, in a news release. "For instance, we have seen hints of crustal magnetization at higher altitudes over the northern rise in Mercury's northern smooth plains. We will revisit this region at lower altitudes during XM2'. There may be other regions where such signals can be observed, and we will be looking for them."
With NS, the researchers will hone in on shadowed craters with the hope of finding water ice at northern high latitudes.
"We have found such evidence previously in the mission, but we hope to find more at low altitudes and spatially resolve the distribution within individual craters if we are lucky," said Korth.
These findings are important. Establishing the presence of crustal magnetic anomalies, for example, would extend the known temporal baseline for Mercury's internal magnetic field by eight orders of magnitude.
The first maneuver for MESSENGER was successful, but researchers are still being careful with the spacecraft. While MESSENGER's mission may end soon, it's likely to unveil a host of findings before it finally retires. After 10 years in flight, the spacecraft has earned it.
For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone