Progress of Messenger in the Solar system - Page 5

Lord Jubjub · #**121** (**permalink**) 09-August-2008, 11:01 PM

Messenger is now at aphelion #7. It is once again falling toward the sun. In 57 days, it will reach perihelion and take pictures of a nearby planet. Its orbital period will shrink from 132 days to 118 days.

Lord Jubjub · #**122** (**permalink**) 21-September-2008, 09:47 PM

Orbit #7 is finished. Perihelion #8 will occur on 6 October. Pictures will be taken.

01101001 · #**123** (**permalink**) 01-October-2008, 10:13 PM

Planetary Society Weblog: Science Timeline for Monday's MESSENGER flyby of Mercury

Quote:

There was a press briefing this morning on the upcoming flyby of Mercury by MESSENGER. Closest approach happens Monday, October 6, at 08:40 UTC. It's the spacecraft's second of three flybys before eventually entering orbit in March of 2011. Here's the high points of the briefing and the plans for the encounter. Below, I've got a detailed timeline focusing mostly on the imaging plans.

===

Previously, from August 4 or thereabouts:

Quote:

Originally Posted by 01101001

MESSENGER Mission News: Sharing the Wealth: MESSENGER Team Delivers Mercury Flyby 1 Data to Planetary Data System
[...]

This could be yet another opportunity for reluctant believers in weird gravitational physics to analyze the captured navigational data, plug it into their superior non-mainstream physics formulas, produce a more accurate analysis report that would support their ideas, and demonstrate to the world how much better off we'd be if only people would accept that the weird physics is the one true physics. Just saying they could, if they had the passion and time, maybe, and funding, if they really cared, and their ideas were actually sound and supportable, you know?

No takers? Not gonna take us to the promised land?

01101001 · #**124** (**permalink**) 04-October-2008, 12:55 AM

JHUAPL: MESSENGER Mission News: MESSENGER Beams Back First Approach Images of Mercury

Quote:

MESSENGER mission operators at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., have received the first optical navigation images from the spacecraft. “We will be taking seven additional sets over the next three days as the spacecraft approaches the planet,” said APL’s Eric Finnegan, the Mission Systems Engineer.

Closest approach:
2008, October 6, 0140 PDT, Monday
2008, October 6, 0440 EDT, Monday
2008, October 6, 0840 UTC, Monday

About 2-1/2 days to closest approach

01101001 · #**125** (**permalink**) 05-October-2008, 08:04 PM

See some of Mercury never before seen.

Planetary Society Weblog: MESSENGER gets closer to Mercury

Quote:

Unlike the first one I posted, there's quite a lot of detail visible in this one -- and again, this is all territory previously unseen by spacecraft. There's a nice big basin near the bottom of the crescent, similar to (and maybe a little bigger than) the Tolstoj one that was visible below Caloris in the outbound images from the first flyby. [...] One more day and all that detail will be revealed! Well, a little more than that -- we have to wait nearly a day after the flyby for the images to start coming down.

Closest approach:
2008, October 6, 0140 PDT, Monday
2008, October 6, 0440 EDT, Monday
2008, October 6, 0840 UTC, Monday

About 13-1/2 hours to closest approach

KaiYeves · #**126** (**permalink**) 05-October-2008, 08:14 PM

Oooh, here we go again!

01101001 · #**127** (**permalink**) 06-October-2008, 02:40 AM

dmuller's MESSENGER Real-Time Simulation provides clocks, countdowns, events and simulated images.

Up next:

Quote:

[in 1 hour] Configure Magnetometer, GRS and Neutron Spectrometer to high sensitivity mode.
[in 1 hour] Configure Fast Imaging Plasma Spectrometer (FIPS) to burst- data collection mode.

Closest approach:
2008, October 6, 0140 PDT, Monday
2008, October 6, 0440 EDT, Monday
2008, October 6, 0840 UTC, Monday

7 hours to closest approach

sohh_fly · #**128** (**permalink**) 06-October-2008, 02:59 AM

thx for the info 00011101, this should be fun

dmuller · #**129** (**permalink**) 06-October-2008, 08:42 AM

Just 1 hour away from closest approach

slang · #**130** (**permalink**) 06-October-2008, 09:30 AM

It's great to see the speed relative to Mercury increase by thousands of km/h, and to "see" the acceleration. Great resource, dmuller!

dmuller · #**131** (**permalink**) 06-October-2008, 09:42 AM

It is also interesting to see how the orbital speed (=energy) around the Sun is being reduced (despite approaching the Sun) ... of course this is the ultimate goal of the flyby, I just didnt expect it to be so clearly visible (even though I pro0grammed it

)

PraedSt · #**132** (**permalink**) 06-October-2008, 03:43 PM

dmuller

Hey, your site's excellent!

01101001 · #**133** (**permalink**) 06-October-2008, 03:55 PM

JHUAPL MESSENGER Gallery

Nothing new there, just the 5 inbound images taken the days before closest approach.

The events schedule has some departure images and movies being made in the current timeframe.

Nothing to see until the data begins to be downlinked.

From Planetary Society Weblog: Science Timeline for Monday's MESSENGER flyby of Mercury

Quote:

Selected images have been marked for early playback. Likely candidates include inbound and outbound wide-angle camera images that encompass all of Mercury in a single frame, providing the context images for all of the higher-resolution shots.

Begin data playback
October 6 22:43 PDT, Monday
October 7 01:43 EDT, Tuesday
October 7 05:43 UTC, Tuesday

Edit, later: Planetary Society Weblog: MESSENGER flyby: Radio signals indicate all went well

01101001 · #**134** (**permalink**) 06-October-2008, 11:54 PM

JHUAPL: MESSENGER Mission News: MESSENGER Flyby of Mercury

Quote:

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 [JHUAPL MESSENGER Mercury Flyby 2]. Be sure to check back frequently to see the latest released images and science results!

First pictures aimed for
2008 October 7, 0700 PDT
2008 October 7, 1000 EDT
2008 October 7, 1400 UTC

Check JHUAPL MESSENGER Mercury Flyby 2

Jerry · #**135** (**permalink**) 07-October-2008, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 01101001

Previously, from August 4 or thereabouts:

This could be yet another opportunity for reluctant believers in weird gravitational physics to analyze the captured navigational data, plug it into their superior non-mainstream physics formulas, produce a more accurate analysis report that would support their ideas, and demonstrate to the world how much better off we'd be if only people would accept that the weird physics is the one true physics. Just saying they could, if they had the passion and time, maybe, and funding, if they really cared, and their ideas were actually sound and supportable, you know?

No takers? Not gonna take us to the promised land?

Sorry, missed my cue. It wasn't until shortly before this pass that the Messenger website posted that they used 'solar wind tacking" to trim Messenger's final approach, which was still off-target after the final trimming manuver. We know they ended up using a gross positive gravity anomaly at the moment of closest approach to model the resulting trajectory, and moved the next orbital correction up ~two weeks. It is clear that it is difficult to keep Messenger on track. (Nice job, Messenger team.) What is not clear is why - they have published that they think they have a good handle on solar wind corrections.

So why no detailed prediction of what happens next? Because we do not have a detailed accounting of how and why Messenger was off-coarse, or by how much. Rough trajectory observational reporting does not allow any more than rough predictions of what will happen next.

In general, motion of Messenger away from the sun should net more acceleration towards the sun than expected (notice this is opposite of the Pioneer anomally), gravitational assists less braking, and motion towards the sun less acceleration. This is all complicated by the parallel prediction that the speed of light varies very slightly more-than-expected in the sun's gravitational well. I don't expect details to emerge for several months; and I'm not sure it is kosher to repeat an ATM prediction on a space exploration thread. What we do know is Messengers first pass netted a curious acceleration that on first blush appears to be exactly opposite from what I expected

We know they made it, we know good Doppler signals were recorded throughout the pass, and this is a first (there was a blind spot in the first pass)....what is Messenger telling us this time?

djellison · #**136** (**permalink**) 07-October-2008, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerry

....what is Messenger telling us this time?

It's saying 'Jerry - take your off-topic discussion to ATM'

01101001 · #**137** (**permalink**) 07-October-2008, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerry

Sorry, missed my cue.

Sorry I asked a question your fantasy-physics can't answer.

I really should have known better.

All we ever get is the promises -- never the promised land.

===

Images, and discussion of reality:

BA Blog: Watermelon Planet

JHUAPL MESSENGER Mission: Gallery: Science Photos

More there.

Edit, hours later: More, at Planetary Society Weblog: First images from MESSENGER's second flyby of Mercury:

Quote:

[...] Every one of the craters that you can see in this image of Mercury would have produced such a ray system originally -- the rays from the larger craters would have been even more dramatic, if you can believe it -- but space weathering has erased all those rays except for the ones from the most recent impacts, like Kuiper just below center.
[...]
To help in piecing together where the image releases go, here's a context map I've put together showing the locations of recent image releases, as well as names of craters previously seen by Mariner 10. There are other named craters in between the ones with white letters and Kuiper, but they are hard to spot on the MESSENGER image and I wasn't confident enough in their locations to mark them on the map.

geonuc · #**138** (**permalink**) 08-October-2008, 10:05 AM

More very cool images. I think it's interesting how this mission is planned, (dictated by the location of Mercury, of course). Three fly-bys that have and will provide images and data never seen before, but all just a tantalizing sample of what is to come.

01101001 · #**139** (**permalink**) 08-October-2008, 04:20 PM

JHUAPL MESSENGER Mission: Gallery: Science Photos

borman · #**140** (**permalink**) 09-October-2008, 12:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerry

What we do know is Messengers first pass netted a curious acceleration that on first blush appears to be exactly opposite from what I expected

We know they made it, we know good Doppler signals were recorded throughout the pass, and this is a first (there was a blind spot in the first pass)....what is Messenger telling us this time?

We may have to wait until the possible October 29 meeting suggested to discuss flyby 2 results. Unlike the first or third flyby, this one should have continuous Doppler readings through the Closest Approach without Mercury obscuring the lightpath which did not happen here until after CA.

Who is to say they will not "discover" another surface gravity anomaly that can almost but not quite explain the first anomaly.

Jerry · #**141** (**permalink**) 09-October-2008, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Messenger Mission News

By using solar sailing – rotating the spacecraft and tilting its solar panels to use the very small pressure from sunlight to alter the spacecraft’s trajectory – MESSENGER navigators have achieved a new record for the smallest miss distance between the intended and actual closest approach distance during a flyby of a planet other than Earth.

On October 6, 2008, the probe flew 199.4 kilometers (123.9 miles) above the surface of the planet. “Our goal was to fly 200 kilometers from the planet’s surface, and we missed that target by only 0.6 kilometers,” explained MESSENGER Mission Design Lead Jim McAdams, of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.

Nice Solar Trimming!

Jerry · #**142** (**permalink**) 09-October-2008, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by borman

Who is to say they will not "discover" another surface gravity anomaly that can almost but not quite explain the first anomaly.

Since closest approach is on a different tangent; a second three-sigma surface anomaly should be classified as fantasy-physics...as of now, for all [we] know, there was no deviation in the doppler from what was expected. [yes/no?]

01101001 · #**143** (**permalink**) 10-October-2008, 09:56 PM

More at JHUAPL MESSENGER Mission: Gallery: Science Photos

Jerry · #**144** (**permalink**) 11-October-2008, 06:50 AM

The number images, and the quality of these early images is incredible. - Nasa and John Hopkins get many kidos for the rapid release

01101001 · #**145** (**permalink**) 17-October-2008, 04:15 AM

Some more images have arrived at JHUAPL MESSENGER Mission: Gallery: Science Photos.

01101001 · #**146** (**permalink**) 29-October-2008, 02:47 AM

They continue to put images from Mercury flyby 2 on the web.

JHUAPL MESSENGER Mission: Gallery: Science Photos

===

NASA TV Schedule

Quote:

October 29, Wednesday
1 p.m. - NASA Science News Conference -- Messenger - HQ (Public and Media Channels)

Some results from Mercury flyby 2, I presume.

News Conference Begins
2008 October 29, 1000 PDT, Wednesday
2008 October 29, 1300 EDT, Wednesday
2008 October 29, 1700 UTC, Wednesday

NASA TV (or NASA TV Yahoo! source or high-resolution)

01101001 · #**147** (**permalink**) 29-October-2008, 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 01101001

News Conference [...]

I missed it.

Some coverage is in BA Blog: The colors of Mercury

News conference will probably be rerun on NASA TV today.

borman · #**148** (**permalink**) 29-October-2008, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerry

Since closest approach is on a different tangent; a second three-sigma surface anomaly should be classified as fantasy-physics...as of now, for all [we] know, there was no deviation in the doppler from what was expected. [yes/no?]

There was nothing said either way whether there was a gravity anomaly in the flyby 2 at either the DPS 40 or the recent NASA briefing.

As regards a surface gravity anomaly being responsible for the anomaly in the first flyby, it was noted that the "blue" material was not always present in the ejecta at every crater which suggests that the crust is not homogenous. Whether this can be extended to infer a concentration of subsurface dikes of dense material sufficient to give the surface gravity anomaly will likely have to await a further mapping after orbital insertion. If there was a surface gravity anomaly, it will not likely to have gone away since the first flyby but will remain apparent from orbit. If it has gone away after orbital insertion, then another explanation will be needed.

One can not conclude that a lack of statements regarding any gravity anomaly in the second flyby means that there was none to report. Considering the curious statements in March about the first flyby, it is even more curious that nothing has been said either way about the second flyby with respect to the comments in March. Perhaps they are continuing to analyze the data before making further remarks. They did not state that nothing unusual happened; they said nothing at all with respect to the earlier flyby gravity assist anomaly.

I'm not suggesting that there is any conspiracy to keep the information secret; it may be they want to be more sure of the data and not be too speculative.

01101001 · #**149** (**permalink**) 30-October-2008, 11:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 01101001

Some coverage is in BA Blog: The colors of Mercury.

More coverage: Planetary Society Weblog: Early science results from MESSENGER's second Mercury flyby

Lord Jubjub · #**150** (**permalink**) 06-December-2008, 05:37 PM

Messenger is passing through its 8th aphelion today. It will pass close to the sun (Mercury will not be there) this coming February.

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