Mercury Bound MESSENGER has successfully encountered Venus.

3488 · Oct 25, 2006

NASA's Mercury-bound MESSENGER spacecraft came within 2,990 kilometers (1,860 miles) of the surface of Venus early this morning during its second planetary encounter. The spacecraft used the tug of the planet's gravity to change its trajectory significantly, shrinking the radius of its orbit around the Sun and bringing it closer to Mercury. Twenty days before closest approach to Venus the MESSENGER Dual Imaging System snapped pictures of the planet from a distance of about 16.5 million kilometers (10.3 million miles). Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington Download larger image version here MESSENGER swung by Venus at 8:34 UTC (4:34 a.m. EDT), according to mission operators at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md. About 18 minutes after the approach, an anticipated solar eclipse cut off communication between Earth and the spacecraft. Contact was reestablished at 14:15 UTC (10:15 a.m. EDT) through NASA's Deep Space Network, and the team is collecting data to assess MESSENGER's performance during the flyby. Shortly before the Venus flyby the spacecraft entered superior conjunction, placing it on the exact opposite side of the sun as Earth, making communication between MESSENGER and Mission Operations difficult, if not impossible. "So we are not making any scientific observations at the time of this flyby," says Sean C. Solomon, the mission's principal investigator, from the Carnegie Institution of Washington. "We shall conduct a full suite of observations surrounding the second flyby in June 2007." In late November, when routine radio contact with the spacecraft is re-established, the team will collect data to determine how closely MESSENGER followed its plans and to update knowledge of its orbit. This information will enable operators to plan for the December 12 trajectory correction maneuver that will target the <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before". Linda Morabito on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.http://www.launchphotography.com/ http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearthhttp://web.me.com/meridianijournal </div>

blazincajun · Oct 25, 2006

thanks. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

vandivx · Oct 25, 2006

2011 holy cow and what happened to some probe that went to Venus and got there sometimes this spring, then they said it would take a month or two to let it cool off in orbit or what but somehow I didn't hear it mentioned anywhere since, my patience has worn out and I stopped trying to follow it, was some ESA probe, probably now cooling off for years in Venus orbit before anything will happen LOL these missions are honestly boring as watching nail make its way out of old wood vanDivX <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

ittiz · Oct 27, 2006

That's Venus Express. It's at Venus and is in it's mission phase: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Venus_Express/index.html

3488 · Nov 1, 2006

Watching ESA missions can be as exciting as watching an old car rust, grass grow or paint dry, simply because they go for long periods without any updates. For instance, SMART 1. A brilliant craft, carried out a superb lunar orbital mission. Yet we have seen only a tiny fraction of the images. I am awiting the high reso images of the Tsiokovsky Crater to check out potential lunar farside volcanics, high reso lunar poles, etc. Venus Express, another superb mission, yet very little news. Is the PFS fixed yet? Dont Know, no news. Mars Express I suppose is the ESA only mission that is updated regularly. NASA/JPL/JHU missions on the other hand are very exciting, seeing as we get regular updates, often daily. When MESSENGER makes the Mercury encounters & finally arrives in Mercury orbit, we will see the pictures straight away. NASA & ESA appear to have very different pholisophies on this & I think that the ESA seems reluctant to post raw images onto a website. Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before". Linda Morabito on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.http://www.launchphotography.com/ http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearthhttp://web.me.com/meridianijournal </div>

vandivx · Nov 1, 2006

lots of truth in what you say, that Venus Express mission (thx Ittiz) pretty well vanished from ESA site at one point and I sort of gave up trying to follow it after that intial phase when it got captured into orbit etc, some very different philosophy at work there it is bad for folks like you and worse for us that have just side interest in those missions at best, I mean I like to look at some pictures but planet exploration is not what boils my kettle so to speak vanDivX <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

jmilsom · Nov 1, 2006

Thanks for that post. I can only marvel at the beautiful dance Messenger has to make before entering orbit about Mercury and at those that made all the calculations. On that second point, yes it is hard to understand why ESA are so stingy with their data releases. NASA shoots each image and its data straight to the public and the result is thousands of people working on it round the world. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

3488 · Nov 2, 2006

It promises to be an absolutely fantastic mission. Even the pre orbital Mercury encounters will reveal much new information (if I understand correctly, during the first encounter, MESSENGER will see most of the side of Mercury that was invisible to Mariner 10). So from that point we will have a near global map with Marner 10 images included with the new ones from MESSENGER (there will still be a missing segment & an overlap, but most of the blank hemisphere will be filled). The second encounter I understand will be 50 - 50 so it will be interesting to see some features already seen under different illumination!! I hope this will work. Shame that the ESA scrapped the Mercury Polar Lander from Bepi Colombo. Perhaps either NASA or JAXA (Japan) could fill this gap, as either would probably succeed. Yes, the ESA is very stingy at revealing new data (although they were quick with Huygens to Titan, but then they needed a great deal of help from NASA / JPL, to deliver Huygens successfully). Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before". Linda Morabito on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.http://www.launchphotography.com/ http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearthhttp://web.me.com/meridianijournal </div>

vonster · Nov 2, 2006

Its a shame about ESA, thier information policy is a dis-service to the world. I recall an information lag from Titan as well Curious about this: <blockquote>In reply to:<hr />Shortly before the Venus flyby the spacecraft entered superior conjunction, placing it on the exact opposite side of the sun as Earth, making communication between MESSENGER and Mission Operations difficult, if not impossible. "So we are not making any scientific observations at the time of this flyby," says Sean C. Solomon, the mission's principal investigator, from the Carnegie Institution of Washington. "We shall conduct a full suite of observations surrounding the second flyby in June 2007." In late November, when routine radio contact with the spacecraft is re-established<hr /></blockquote> Heard wording like this before that implies -- when a spacecraft transmission is on the other side of the sun --that communication is still possible to some degree. ie they do not say "completely impossible". Its "extremely difficult" or "not routine" ... heard this in relation to the Mars rovers as well How is it that we can keep any kind of contact at all once a spacecraft reaches a certain distance around the other side of the sun in relation to earth? And where is the point of completely lost contact vs the curverature of the orbit ... and why ... .

3488 · Nov 3, 2006

Communication is still possible at superior conjunction unless the craft / planet passes directly behind the sun as viewed from Earth. However, the solar corona, flares, etc can cause interference that makes communication unreliable, missing bits & so on, hence the communication shut down during this period. However it seldom lasts any more than a few days as the alignment quickly dissolves. I agree vonster. The ESA policy on new releases is not only a dis-service, but is a total utter disgrace IMO. Venus Express for instance. For some weeks after the initial arrival into Cytherean orbit, there was nothing. Then there was an update from Venus, then again nothing. One of the instruments, the PFS is / was malfunctioning, a real blow to people such as myself, who are interested in learning, whether or not, Venus is currently volcanically active. There has been no more news. Is it working now or not. I assume not. The superb Magellan Radar Images clearly showed that the surface is very young & is more or less the same age all over. NASA / JPL / JHU released updates almost daily with Magellan, as they are doing with the MERs, MGS, MRO, MO 2001, Cassini, & did with NEAR Shoemaker & Galileo, etc. ESA take note!! As MESSENGER is in interplanetary cruise, it is expected there to not be much news, as there is nothing to report (fair enough), but during the pre orbital Mercury encounters as well as after Mercury Orbital Insertion, images & other data will be released daily or very nearly so. I applaud NASA / JHU with releasing the Venus encounter details & images so promptly after the event. Also NASA / JHU keeping us informed with New Horizons. ESA has much to learn in this respect. Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before". Linda Morabito on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.http://www.launchphotography.com/ http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearthhttp://web.me.com/meridianijournal </div>

mithridates · Nov 3, 2006

Me too. I started the Atmosphere of Venus article on Wikipedia in September thinking that I would be able to get updates every week or so from their site as they find out more and more about the atmosphere but nothing so far except their "hey everybody look, Venus has crazy clouds" update on the site. And they retain copyright to their images (and they don't answer messages from me asking for permission to use them either) so we on Wikipedia have to stick with 1970s Pioneer images and Magellan radar photos. Ghey. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> ----- http://mithridates.blogspot.com </div>

MeteorWayne · Nov 3, 2006

Actually, Mercury is passing directly between us and the Sun on November 8th. It will transit across the face of the sun. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id. I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function </div>

3488 · Nov 6, 2006

Hi there MeteorWayne, thanks for you king messages. A shame that the Mercury Transit will not be visible from the UK, despite the weather forecast looking good (during the night here). Hi mithridates. It is a damn nuisance that ESA has this policy. You need updates for your Cytherean atmospheric studies & I need them for potenial Cytherean active volcanism. Both of us are hitting our heads against the same brick wall. I only hope that as the mission eventually wraps up, ESA will do a mass release of data (some hope I suppose). Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before". Linda Morabito on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.http://www.launchphotography.com/ http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearthhttp://web.me.com/meridianijournal </div>

mithridates · Nov 6, 2006

Yes, this is exactly the kind of approach the ESA needs: http://near.jhuapl.edu/iod/20000214b/index.html PR and shared excitement doesn't get much better than that. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> ----- http://mithridates.blogspot.com </div>

Search

Mercury Bound MESSENGER has successfully encountered Venus.

3488

Guest

blazincajun

Guest

vandivx

Guest

ittiz

Guest

3488

Guest

vandivx

Guest

jmilsom

Guest

3488

Guest

vonster

Guest

3488

Guest

mithridates

Guest

MeteorWayne

Guest

3488

Guest

mithridates

Guest

Similar threads

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Share this page