Messenger (Даёшь Меркурий!)

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[Nixer]

Там что, тоже каналы есть?

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Там что, тоже каналы есть?

Там много что есть

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Миссия MESSENGER продлевается на один год (начиная с 18 марта 2012 года).

NASA Extends MESSENGER Mission

NASA has announced that it will extend the MESSENGER mission for an additional year of orbital operations at Mercury beyond the planned end of the primary mission on March 17, 2012. The MESSENGER probe became the first spacecraft to orbit the innermost planet on March 18, 2011.

"We are still ironing out the funding details, but we are pleased to be able to support the continued exploration of Mercury," said NASA MESSENGER Program Scientist Ed Grayzeck, who made the announcement on November 9, 2011, at the 24th meeting of the MESSENGER Science Team in Annapolis, Md.

The spacecraft's unprecedented orbital science campaign is providing the first global close-up of Mercury and has revolutionized scientific perceptions of that planet. The extended mission will allow scientists to learn even more about the planet closest to the Sun, says MESSENGER Principal investigator Sean Solomon, of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.

"During the extended mission we will spend more time close to the planet than during the primary mission, we'll have a broader range of scientific objectives, and we'll be able to make many more targeted observations with our imaging system and other instruments," says Solomon. "MESSENGER will also be able to view the innermost planet as solar activity continues to increase toward the next maximum in the solar cycle. Mercury's responses to the changes in its environment over that period promise to yield new surprises."

The extended mission has been designed to answer six scientific questions, each of which has arisen only recently as a result of discoveries made from orbit:

   1. What are the sources of surface volatiles on Mercury?

   2. How late into Mercury's history did volcanism persist?

   3. How did Mercury's long-wavelength topography change with time?

   4. What is the origin of localized regions of enhanced exospheric density at Mercury?

   5. How does the solar cycle affect Mercury's exosphere and volatile transport?

   6. What is the origin of Mercury's energetic electrons?

"Advancements in science have at their core the evaluation of hypotheses in the light of new knowledge, sometimes resulting in slight changes in course, and other times resulting in paradigm shifts, opening up entirely new vistas of thought and perception," says MESSENGER Project Scientist Ralph McNutt, of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. "With the early orbital observations at Mercury we are already seeing the beginnings of such advancements. The extended mission guarantees that the best is indeed 'yet to be' on the MESSENGER mission, as this old-world Mercury, seen in a very new light, continues to give up its secrets."

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=188

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Trio of NASA Missions Named 'Best of What's New'

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Dawn, Mars Science Laboratory and MESSENGER missions have earned recognition from Popular Science magazine as innovations worthy of the publication's "Best of What's New" Award in the aviation and space category.

Dawn and Mars Science Laboratory are managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Dawn is currently orbiting and exploring the massive main-belt asteroid Vesta. The Mars Science Laboratory and its Curiosity rover launched on Nov. 26 on a journey to the Red Planet, where the rover will look for signs of past or present habitability.

The MESSENGER mission is currently orbiting Mercury.

More information on the award winners is online at: http://www.popsci.com/bown/2011/category/aviation-amp-space .

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages Dawn and Mars Science Laboratory for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Dawn is a project of the directorate's Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital Sciences Corp. in Dulles, Va., designed and built the spacecraft. The German Aerospace Center, the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, the Italian Space Agency and the Italian National Astrophysical Institute are international partners on the mission team.

Sean Solomon, of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, leads the MESSENGER mission as principal investigator. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory built and operates the MESSENGER spacecraft for NASA.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/news/award20111130.html

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MESSENGER 2011 - A Year in Review
Release Date: December 26, 2011

As we prepare to bid farewell to 2011, the MESSENGER spacecraft is now nine months into its orbital mission. The scientific products that MESSENGER has returned have given planetary scientists and space enthusiasts around the world a chance to better understand Mercury's formation, surface composition, and unique atmosphere-magnetosphere system. The Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) has captured >99.9% of Mercury's surface in high resolution, including previously unseen terrain. As the mission moves forward into 2012, we are excited to continue to unravel the mysteries of this planet of extremes. Let's take a look back at some of this year's highlights:

January: Are we there yet?
February: Getting closer... A Solar System Family Potrait, from the Inside Out (second row)
March: Mercury Orbit Insertion! First Image Ever Obtained from Mercury Orbit (top left)
April: X Marks the Spot (top middle)
May: Another Look at Atget (top right)
June: What Happens in Degas Stays in Degas (bottom left)
July: Memories of Many Mixed Materials (third row, middle)
August: A Crater in CloseUp (third row, left)
September: Stunning Landforms in Raditladi Basin (third row, right)
October: The First Solar Day (fourth row, left)
November: Hurrah for the Red and the Blue (fourth row, right)
December: The Bright Rays of Mena (bottom middle), and Mercury Globe: North Pole (bottom right)

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/gallery/sciencePhotos/image.php?gallery_id=2&image_id=728

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http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/the_mission/mosaics.html

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MESSENGER Mission News
December 5, 2011

The MESSENGER spacecraft successfully completed a fifth orbit-correction maneuver today to lower MESSENGER's periapsis altitude from 442 to 200 kilometers and decrease the orbital period from 12 hours to 11 hours and 47 minutes.

MESSENGER was 102 million kilometers (63.4 million miles) from Earth when the 291-second maneuver began at 11:08 a.m. EST. Mission controllers at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., verified the start of the maneuver about 5 minutes and 40 seconds later, when the first signals indicating spacecraft thruster activity reached NASA's Deep Space Network tracking station outside Goldstone, Calif.

This orbit-correction maneuver, the final one planned for the primary orbital phase of the mission, was executed to keep orbital parameters within desired ranges for optimal scientific observations. MESSENGER's orbital velocity was changed by a total of 22.2 meters per second (49.7 miles per hour) to make the corrections essential for continuing the planned measurement campaigns.

"The successful completion of this burn marks a significant milestone on the MESSENGER project," says MESSENGER Systems Engineer Eric Finnegan of APL. "The propulsion system has now completed all major maneuver requirements for the primary mission. Given the complexity of this propulsion system and the challenges of the trajectory, this is a major achievement for the APL and Aerojet design and mission operation teams."

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=190

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The MESSENGER Gamma-Ray Spectrometer: A window into the formation and early evolution of Mercury
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/soc/highlights122011.html

[Dude]

похоже вопрос закрыт...

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Software Enables Efficient Planning of MESSENGER Observations
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=194

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[Имxотеп]

В онлайне появились аннотации докладов 43 конференции по Луне и планетам LPSC-2012, в том числе материалы специальной секции по итогам года работы у Меркурия. Интересные моменты тезисно:

Магнитное поле

Магнитное поле Меркурия представляет собой диполь, ось которого смещена от центра планеты на 484 км и почти параллельна оси вращения. Наблюдения MESSENGER'a существенно уточнили его характеристики и позволили обнаружить некоторые магнитные аномалии.



В северном полушарии планеты выявлена большая область остаточной намагниченности, примерно совпадающая с вулканическими равнинами (белый контур на рисунке выше). Местное магнитное поле противоположно полю диполя и видимо представляет собой реликт ранней геологической истории Меркурия, "отпечаток" древнего поля планеты, более сильный у полюса и убывающий к экватору.

Внутреннее строение планеты

По результатам измерений MESSENGER'ом была построена первая гравитационая карта  Меркурия, на которой различимы аномалии, связанные с особенностями топографии. Также найдены глобальные гармоники С20,С22, которые определяются распределением массы внутри планеты. Из результатов следует, что ядро Меркурия менее плотное и больше по размерам, чем думали раньше. Оно простирается на 2000 км от центра планеты (и это при радиусе Меркурия в 2440 км), а мантия наоборот, плотнее ожиданий и менее толстая.

Полярные кратеры

Большое количество докладов секции посвящено кратерам на полюсах Меркурия, где по данным радарных наблюдений предполагается наличие льда. Во-первых, полюса были отсняты камерой MDIS, построена карта, изучена топография и показано, что "радарно-яркие" участки действительно соответствуют вечной тени.



С помощью лазерного альтиметра MLA были исследованы отражательные свойства поверхности в полярных кратерах. Предполагалось, что если там есть лед, то альбедо будет выше среднего, отраженный сигнал сильнее, но результат оказался прямо противоположным. Именно в загадочных кратерах альбедо было аномально низким. Похожий эффект, правда в УФ-диапазоне, наблюдался в лунных полярных кратерах прибором LAMP на LRO, так что возможно это родственные явления. В другом докладе проводится общий анализ разных вариантов и делается вывод, что полярные кратеры могут стать холодной ловушкой при наличии теплоизирующего слоя реголита, хотя бы 10 см. Возможно также, что кроме водяного льда там накапливаются и другие, менее летучие вещества, типа органики или соединений серы. Окончательную точку в вопросе должен поставить нейтронный детектор NS, который способен обнаружить лед, если его содержание в грунте составляет ~50% по массе.

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http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/gallery/sciencePhotos/image.php?gallery_id=2&image_id=764

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Science Highlights from Mercury Orbit
February 15, 2012

Mercury's Oddly Offset Magnetic Field

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/soc/highlights021512.html

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MESSENGER Modifies Orbit to Prepare for Extended Mission
March 2, 2012

MESSENGER successfully completed an orbit-correction maneuver this evening to lower its periapsis altitude - the lowest point of MESSENGER's orbit about Mercury relative to the planet's surface - from 405 to 200 kilometers (251 to 124 miles). This is the first of three planned maneuvers designed to modify the spacecraft's orbit around Mercury as science operations transition from MESSENGER's primary orbital mission to its extended mission.

MESSENGER's orbit around Mercury is highly eccentric, taking it from 200 kilometers (124 miles) above Mercury's surface to 15,200 kilometers (9,445 miles) altitude every 12 hours. Since orbit insertion nearly one year ago, spacecraft operators at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, conducted five earlier maneuvers to counter the perturbing forces that pull MESSENGER away from its preferred observing geometry, including those arising from solar gravity and Mercury's slight oblateness (the flattening of its spherical shape at the planet's poles).

For this latest orbit adjustment, MESSENGER was 148 million kilometers (92 million miles) from Earth when the 171-second maneuver, which used all four of the medium-sized monopropellant thrusters on the deck opposite most of the science instruments, began at 8:44 p.m. EST. APL mission controllers verified the start of the maneuver 8 minutes and 12 seconds later, when the first signals indicating spacecraft thruster activity reached NASA's Deep Space Network tracking station near Canberra, Australia.

In mid-April the team will conduct two additional maneuvers designed to reduce the period of MESSENGER's orbit around Mercury from 12 to eight hours. According to MESSENGER Principal Investigator Sean Solomon, of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, "This reduction in orbital period will mean that MESSENGER spends a greater fraction of its time close to Mercur's surface than during the primary mission that is now nearing a successful completion. Moreover, the accomplishment of the global mapping carried out during the primary mission will free many of MESSENGER's instruments for a new mix of measurements to address a fresh set of scientific objectives designed to answer questions raised by the findings from orbital observations to date."

"The eight-hour orbit will provide 50% more low-altitude observation opportunities of Mercury's north polar regions, including permanently shadowed craters," explains MESSENGER Mission Design Lead Jim McAdams of APL. "A one-third reduction in maximum altitude relative to the 12-hour orbit will enable higher-resolution imaging of the southern hemisphere."

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=195

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Solar storms even have an impact on MESSENGER: http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/gallery/sciencePhotos/image.php?gallery_id=2&image_id=777



The Solar Storm, at Mercury
Release Date: March 9, 2012
Topics: NAC

Date acquired: March 07, 2012
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 239584591
Image ID: 1484381
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: -36.55°
Center Longitude: 298.76° E

Of Interest: Watch space weathering happen! The recent solar storm had a dramatic effect on MESSENGER images of Mercury. In the image above, you can see bright streaks and speckles, with Mercury's surface faintly visible behind them. These streaks are energetic particles from the Sun hitting the camera's CCD. While great for illustrating the powerful solar event, images acquired during this period will have to be replanned for later in the mission.

The MESSENGER spacecraft is the first ever to orbit the planet Mercury, and the spacecraft's seven scientific instruments and radio science investigation are unraveling the history and evolution of the Solar System's innermost planet. Visit the Why Mercury? section of this website to learn more about the key science questions that the MESSENGER mission is addressing. During the one-year primary mission, MDIS is scheduled to acquire more than 75,000 images in support of MESSENGER's science goals.

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

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MESSENGER Team Delivers Data from First Full Mercury Solar Day to Planetary Data System

Data collected during MESSENGER's third through sixth month in orbit around Mercury were released to the public today by the Planetary Data System (PDS), an organization that archives and distributes all of NASA's planetary mission data. With this release, data are now available to the public for the first full Mercury solar day of MESSENGER orbital operations.

Calibrated data from all seven of MESSENGER's science instruments, plus radio science data from the spacecraft telecommunications system, are included in this release. The science results have shed light on many aspects of Mercury, including its global magnetic field, the dynamics of its exosphere, its surface composition, its geological evolution, and its interior structure.

The images included in this release provide monochrome views at 250 meters per pixel and eight-color image sets at 1 kilometer per pixel. Apart from small gaps, many of which have already been filled by subsequent imaging, these images cover the entire planet under lighting conditions ideal either for assessing the form of Mercury's surface features or for determining the color and compositional variations across the planet.

For more than two decades, NASA has required all of its planetary missions to archive data in the PDS, an active archive that makes available well-documented, peer-reviewed data to the research community. The PDS includes eight university/research center science teams, called discipline nodes, each of which specializes in a specific area of planetary data. The contributions from these nodes provide a data-rich source for scientists, researchers, and developers.

The data for this delivery are archived and available online at http://pds.nasa.gov/subscription_service/SS-20120308.html , and all of the MESSENGER data archived at the PDS thus far are available at http://pds.nasa.gov . As of this release, MESSENGER will have delivered 1.7 terabytes of raw and calibrated data to the PDS, including more than 62,355 images (of which 49,275 are from orbit). The team will submit four more PDS deliveries at six-month intervals from MESSENGER's primary orbital mission and its extended mission.

The MESSENGER team has created a software tool with which the public can view data from this delivery. ACT-REACT-QuickMap provides an interactive Web interface to MESSENGER data. Developed by Applied Coherent Technology Corporation, the software allows users to examine global mosaics constructed with high-resolution images from this and previous PDS deliveries.

The tool also provides weekly updates of coverage for surface-observing instruments, as well as the status of specially targeted MDIS observations. Information is also available that can be used to locate MESSENGER data products at the PDS. QuickMap can be accessed via links on each of the MESSENGER websites at http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/ and http://www.nasa.gov/messenger . The MDIS mosaics can be downloaded from http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/the_mission/mosaics.html .

"This latest release marks another important milestone in the sharing of MESSENGER data with planetary scientists and the public," adds MESSENGER Principal Investigator Sean Solomon, of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. "Mercury has presented us with many mysteries to date, and solving those mysteries will take new ideas and new analyses from throughout the scientific community."

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=196

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"False-tonal recording?" The sounds of a coronal mass ejection

Humans are visual creatures. When we have data that doesn't come from devices sensing the world in wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum that match the narrow band that human eyes can detect, we usually try to manipulate the data in such a way that we can "see" it. With cameras sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light, for instance, we make false-color images, showing variations in color that are not "real" in the sense that they match what we would see, but they are very "real" in the sense that the variations have a direct relationship to actual variations of physical properties from place to place. We turn topographic data into colorful images (often, red or yellow = high and blue = low), or encode all sorts of other data in ways that allow us to draw on our powerful visual-spatial processing skills to see patterns and relationships within the data.

We use our other senses for data analysis less often. It's hard to encode data in a way that we can make use of our senses of touch, taste, or smell. But while we're certainly not the best in the animal kingdom, we have pretty good senses of hearing, and there are some kinds of data that make a lot of sense when encoded that way -- data having to do with frequencies or energies, like radio or seismic waves or charged particles. In audio, unlike with images, how the data vary as time goes on is of paramount importance; and we can hear numerous different pitches at the same time, where it can be hard to make sense of that same scatter of color at one spot in an image. Instead of false-color images, are these false-tonal recordings?

Anyway, the reason I talk about this is because of a new "sonification" of the recent solar storm by Robert Alexander (a University of Michigan graduate student), employing data from the MESSENGER and SOHO spacecraft. I'm not saying that the sonification is a superior way to analyze the data. It's just a way of drawing on a different, additional part of our own human processing power to understand what a data set is telling us.Coronal Mass Ejection headed our way

http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00003420/