Deep-Space Maneuver Positions MESSENGER for Third Mercury Encounter
- From: baalke@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2008 11:45:46 -0800 (PST)
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=116
MESSENGER Mission News
December 4, 2008
Deep-Space Maneuver Positions MESSENGER for Third Mercury Encounter
The Mercury-bound spacecraft MESSENGER completed the first part of a
two-part deep-space maneuver today, providing the expected 90% of the
velocity change needed to place the spacecraft on course to fly by
Mercury for the third time in September 2009. A 4.5-minute firing of
its
bi-propellant engine increased the probe's speed relative to the Sun
by
219 meters per second (489 miles per hour) to a speed of about 30.994
kilometers per second (69,333 miles per hour).
MESSENGER was 237.9 million kilometers (147.8 million miles) from
Earth
when today's maneuver began at 3:30 p.m. EST. Mission controllers at
The
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel,
Md., verified the start of the maneuver about 13 minutes, 14 seconds
later, when the first signals indicating spacecraft thruster activity
reached NASA's Deep Space Network tracking station outside Goldstone,
Calif.
"It was a perfect maneuver," said APL's Eric Finnegan, MESSENGER
Mission
Systems Engineer. "Initial data analysis indicates an extremely
accurate
maneuver execution. After sifting through all the post-burn data I
expect we will find ourselves right on target." The remaining 10% of
this deep-space-maneuver's velocity change will be imparted to the
spacecraft during the second part, which will occur on December 8,
2008.
The total planned velocity change is 247 meters per second.
One final deep-space maneuver on November 29, 2009, will target the
probe for Mercury orbit insertion in March 2011, making it the first
spacecraft to orbit the planet closest to the Sun.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
MESSENGER Web Tool Wins Association Award
The Association of Marketing and Communications Professionals
<http://www.amcpros.com/> (AMCP) has awarded the MESSENGER Mercury
Flyby
Visualization Tool a "Gold" award in the "Web interactive
capabilities"
category of its MarCom Awards <http://www.marcomawards.com/>, an
international competition for marketing and communication
professionals
involved in the concept, writing, and design of marketing and
communication programs and print, visual, and audio materials.
The Web-based tool, available at
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/the_mission/visualization.html, offers a
unique opportunity to see simulated views of Mercury from MESSENGER's
perspective, during approach, flyby, and departure, or in real-time
(as
the observations actually occur).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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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