- The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory built and operates the MESSENGER spacecraft and manages this Discovery-class mission for NASA. Credit: NASA/JHU-APL
In about a month’s time, NASA’s MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging – or MESSENGER for short – will move into orbit around Mercury.
MESSENGER is the first spacecraft to orbit the innermost planet.
Mark your encounter calendars for March 17!
At 8:45 p.m. U.S. Eastern Daylight Time, the probe will largely depend on a nearly 14 minute burn from its largest thruster to complete an orbit insertion maneuver.
That orbit insertion milestone will place the spacecraft into an initial orbit about Mercury that has a 124 mile (200 kilometer) minimum altitude. MESSENGER will circle that planet every 12 hours.
To get to its final destination, the durable spacecraft has taken more than a dozen laps through the inner solar system since launch in August 2004. MESSENGER carries seven science instruments and is fortified to thwart the blistering environs near the Sun.
“The journey since launch, more than six and a half years ago, has been a long one,” says MESSENGER Principal Investigator Sean Solomon, of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. “But we have rounded the last turn, and the finish line for the mission’s cruise phase is in sight. The team is ready for orbital operations to begin.”
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory built and operates the MESSENGER spacecraft and manages this Discovery-class mission for NASA.
By LD/CSE