MESSENGER Flyby of Mercury

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=110

MESSENGER Mission News
October 6, 2008

MESSENGER Flyby of Mercury

At a little after 4:40 a.m. EDT, MESSENGER skimmed 200 kilometers (124
miles) above the surface of Mercury in the second of three flybys of
the
planet. Initial indications from the radio signals indicate that the
spacecraft continues to operate nominally. The spacecraft is now
collecting images and other scientific measurements from the planet as
it departs Mercury from the illuminated side, filling in the details
of
much of Mercury's surface not previously viewed by spacecraft.

Tomorrow at 1:14 a.m. EDT, the spacecraft will turn its high-gain
antenna back toward Earth to start down-linking the data stored
onboard.
The first pictures from the flyby will be released around 10:00 a.m.
on
October 7, 2008. Additional information and features from this
encounter
will be available online at http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/mer_flyby2.html.
Be sure to check back frequently to see the latest released images and
science results!

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From Mariner 10 to MESSENGER

On Wednesday, October 8, 2008, MESSENGER Science Team member Mark
Robinson, from Arizona State University, will talk about what we've
learned about Mercury in the last three decades and release new
pictures
from MESSENGER's second flyby of Mercury. The event, to be held at the
Kossiakoff Center on the campus of the Johns Hopkins University
Applied
Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., will begin at 4 p.m. To RSVP, go
online to http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/RSVP/.

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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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