MESSENGER Flyby of Mercury

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/status_report_01_14_08_2.html

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Office of Communications and Public Affairs
Laurel, Maryland
Media Contacts: Paulette Campbell
(240) 228-6792 or (443) 778-6792
paulette.campbell@xxxxxxxxxx
January 14, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MESSENGER Flyby of Mercury

At 2:04 p.m. EST on Monday, MESSENGER skimmed 200 kilometers (124
miles) above the surface of Mercury in the first of three flybys of
the planet. Initial indications from the radio signals indicate the
spacecraft is still operating nominally. The first science data
return from the flyby was received today, just minutes before the
closest approach point with the planet, as planned.

"The engineers and operators at the Deep Space Network (DSN) in
Goldstone, Calif., in conjunction with engineers at the Johns Hopkins
University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., pulled
off a tremendous feat, acquiring and locking onto the downlink signal
from the spacecraft within seconds, providing the necessary Doppler
measurements for the Radio Science team" said MESSENGER Mission
Systems Engineer Eric Finnegan of APL. "The spacecraft is continuing
to collect imagery and other scientific measurements from the planet
as we now depart Mercury from the illuminated side, documenting for
the first time the previously unseen surface of the planet."

On Tuesday at noon EST, the spacecraft will turn back towards the
Earth to start down-linking the on-board stored data. Measurements of
this Doppler signal from the spacecraft will allow improve knowledge
of Mercury's gravity field.

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Keeping a Rendezvous with Mercury

Between January 9 and 13, 2008, as the MESSENGER probe approached
Mercury for its first flyby, the Narrow Angle Camera, part of the
Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS), acquired a series of images of
the planet in support of spacecraft navigation. These images have
been put together as frames in a movie. The final frame of the movie
has the highest spatial resolution (20 km/pixel, 12 miles/pixel) and
was recorded when the spacecraft was at a distance of about 760,000
kilometers (470,000 miles) from Mercury. Mercury is about 4,880
kilometers (about 3,030 miles) in diameter.

As part of MESSENGER's flyby on January 14, MDIS was to obtain
high-resolution image sequences with the Narrow Angle Camera, and the
Wide Angle Camera will collect images in eleven colors. The images
will cover portions of the planet never before seen by spacecraft, as
well as regions that were photographed by Mariner 10 in 1974 and
1975. The new data for the previously studied areas of Mercury will
help scientists to interpret the data for the parts of the planet
that MESSENGER will reveal for the first time.

Additional information and features from this first flyby can be
viewed online at http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/mer_flyby1.html

The latest released images and science results from the flyby will be
posted as they become available.

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MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and
Ranging) is a NASA-sponsored scientific investigation of the planet
Mercury and the first space mission designed to orbit the planet
closest to the Sun. The MESSENGER spacecraft launched on August 3,
2004, and after flybys of Earth, Venus, and Mercury will start a
yearlong study of its target planet in March 2011. Dr. Sean C.
Solomon, of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, leads the mission
as Principal Investigator. The Johns Hopkins University Applied
Physics Laboratory built and operates the MESSENGER spacecraft and
manages this Discovery-class mission for NASA.
.

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