Messenger (Даёшь Меркурий!)

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Зонд "Мессенджер" составил первую в истории полную карту Меркурия

МОСКВА, 6 мар — РИА Новости. Зонд НАСА "Мессенджер" закончил картографирование поверхности Меркурия, создав первую в истории полную карту ближайшей к Солнцу планеты.
"Теперь мы можем сказать, что мы засняли с орбиты каждый квадратный метр поверхности Меркурия. Конечно, некоторые регионы находится в вечной тени, но мы всматривались в эти тени с помощью наших камер", — сказал интернет-изданию Space.com научный руководитель проекта Шон Соломон (Sean Solomon), сотрудник лаборатории прикладной физики университета Джонса Хопкинса.
До появления "Мессенджера", который вышел на орбиту вокруг планеты около двух лет назад, в марте 2011 года, примерно половину поверхности Меркурия нанес на карту зонд "Маринер-10", пролетавший рядом с ним несколько раз с 1974 по 1975 годы.
"Мессенджер" не только нанес на карту новые территории, но и значительно расширил сведения и о тех регионах, которые уже были известны. В частности, он обнаружил новые типы геологических образований, например, "лощины" — впадины, которые возникали при испарении летучих веществ. Кроме того, данные с аппарата позволили подтвердить гипотезу о присутствии водяного льда в постоянно затененных кратерах у полюсов.
Зонд "Мессенджер" (MESSENGER — MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) был запущен в космос в 2004 году. Он стал первым аппаратом, который был отправлен к Меркурию после "Маринера-10". В марте 2011 года космический аппарат "Мессенджер" вышел на орбиту Меркурия, и проанализировал его химические и физические свойства при помощи бортовых спектрометров и высокочувствительных камер, работающих в инфракрасном и видимом диапазоне.

http://ria.ru/science/20130306/926174592.html

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Planetary Data System Releases MESSENGER Data from Third Mercury Solar Day

The Planetary Data System (PDS), which archives and distributes data from all of NASA's planetary missions, today released data collected during MESSENGER's thirteenth through eighteenth month in orbit around Mercury. With this release, images and measurements are now available to the public for the third full Mercury solar day of MESSENGER orbital operations.

NASA requires that all of its planetary missions archive data in the PDS, which makes available well-documented, peer-reviewed data to the research community. This ninth delivery of MESSENGER measurements includes raw and calibrated data from all seven of the mission's science instruments, plus radio science data from the spacecraft telecommunications system, from March 25 to September 17, 2012.

The team has also provided, for the first time in this release, advanced products created with data collected through March 25, 2012, encompassing the first two full Mercury solar days of MESSENGER orbital operations. Those products include the first global mosaics of Mercury to be delivered to PDS.

"The two advanced image products in this release are an eight-color map and a higher-resolution monochrome map," says Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) Instrument Scientist Nancy Chabot, of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). "They are both the products of thousands of images mosaicked together to reveal Mercury's global geology and color characteristics. These mosaics required considerable effort by many on the MESSENGER team, and we are all very proud to make these global maps available."

Other advanced products include summed gamma-ray spectra and background-subtracted, geolocated neutron counts from the Gamma-Ray and Neutron Spectrometer; time-averaged magnetic field data from the Magnetometer; altimeter profiles, radiometry, and a northern hemisphere digital elevation map produced with data from the Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA); limb tangent height and surface reflectance spectra from the Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer; pitch-angle and measured-flux distributions and energy spectra from the Energetic Particle and Plasma Spectrometer; and occultation data and spherical harmonic gravity and shape models derived from the radio science investigation and the MLA.

"Many in the public have been eagerly awaiting the release of the MESSENGER advanced products, and the MESSENGER team is excited to be able to provide them," says APL's Susan Ensor, MESSENGER's Science Operations Center lead. "Extra analyses and processing are required to generate these products, which in many cases combine data over time and include maps, topography, and other global data. The team has also worked closely with the PDS in planning and documenting these new products to ensure their long-term usefulness to the science community."

"Mercury is a planet of many mysteries," adds MESSENGER Principal Investigator Sean Solomon, of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. "With each increment of data, we have made discoveries that raised new questions. Finding answers to those questions requires further analysis. We hope that this latest release of MESSENGER data will induce more of our colleagues from the broader planetary science community to help us unravel the many stories that Mercury has yet to tell."

The MESSENGER mission's ACT-REACT-QuickMap software, developed by Applied Coherent Technology Corporation, 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. Future enhancements to QuickMap will include simple data fusion, by which data sets from multiple elements of the payload may be combined.

QuickMap can be accessed via links on 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 .

The data for this release are available online at http://pds.nasa.gov/subscription_service/SS-20130308.html , and all of the MESSENGER data archived at the PDS thus far are available at http://pds.nasa.gov . The team will submit two more data deliveries to PDS at six-month intervals from MESSENGER's extended mission.

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=236

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НАСА просят продлить миссию зонда "Мессенджер" на орбите Меркурия

МОСКВА, 11 мар — РИА Новости. Исследователи обратились к американскому аэрокосмическому агентству НАСА с просьбой продлить миссию работающего на орбите Меркурия зонда "Мессенджер", которая по плану должна завершиться 17 марта этого года, сообщает в понедельник портал Space.com.

"Мессенджер", вышедший на орбиту Меркурия в марте 2011 года, всего за год закончил картографирование всей его поверхности, создав первую в истории полную карту ближайшей к Солнцу планеты. "Мессенджер" не только нанес на карту новые территории, но и значительно расширил сведения о ранее известных регионах. Тем не менее, по словам ученых, заканчивать миссию зонда пока еще рано.

"Недавно мы внесли очередное предложение продлить работу еще на два года, и закончить ее, когда (у зонда) закончится топливо и "Мессенджер" в конце концов упадет на поверхность Меркурия", — заявил научный руководитель миссии Шон Соломон (Sean Solomon).

Зонд "Мессенджер" (MESSENGER — MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) был запущен в космос в 2004 году. Он стал первым аппаратом, который был отправлен к Меркурию после "Маринера-10". В марте 2011 года космический аппарат "Мессенджер" вышел на орбиту Меркурия и проанализировал его химические и физические свойства при помощи бортовых спектрометров и высокочувствительных камер, работающих в инфракрасном и видимом диапазоне.

http://ria.ru/science/20130311/926788339.html

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ВИДЕО


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A Tribute to MESSENGER: Video!
                        

Release Date: March 14, 2013          

                                        

Topics:        Albedo Contrasts, Caloris, Color Images, Crater Chains, Crater Rays, Craters with Bright Material, Craters with Dark Material, Global Views, Hollows, Image Compilations, Limb Images, Low Reflectance Material (LRM), MASCS, MLA, Movies, NAC, Named Craters, Pantheon Fossae, Polar, Rembrandt, Rough Terrain, Scarps, Smooth Terrain, Tectonics, Volcanism, WAC

This video [available in three formats: [ , , ] showcases a small sampling of the thousands of images taken by the spacecraft, as well as animations illustrating how MESSENGER moves in orbit and how its orbit has changed during the mission.
 
 The opening sequence is from the approach images from the first flyby in 2008. The first animation to follow (at 0:15) shows MESSENGER in its primary mission 12-hour orbit. The relevance of the November 9, 2011, date is that this was when the MESSENGER team was advised that NASA had approved the proposal for an extended mission, allowing the mission to continue making new observations from March 2012 to March 2013. The animation at 0:22 gives you an idea of the movement and gyrations ("dancing") that the spacecraft undergoes while it performs a schedule packed full of observations that take place over one Earth day. The animation sequence at 0:59 gives you a "top down" view over Mercury's north pole from when MESSENGER first went into orbit until several months into the extended mission. The apparent size of the orbit shrinks from the start of the animation to the end, as shortly into the extended mission, MESSENGER's orbital period was shrunk from 12-hours to 8-hours. The animation sequence at 1:44 shows MESSENGER's "dance" on the first day of the extended mission. The other images and embedded movies can be found in the Gallery section of the MESSENGER website.
 
 Some highlight images of note include:
 
 At 0:48 - Blue rays of Bek crater
 At 0:54 - Basho crater
 At 0:57 - Poe crater in Caloris basin
 At 1:17 - MASCS instrument surface scans in ultraviolet and infrared
 At 1:19 - A perspective view of the northern polar region, color-coded to MLA topography
 At 1:27 - Rembrandt impact basin
 At 1:29 - Rembrandt impact basin superimposed on the US for size comparison
 At 1:34 - Rachmaninoff impact basin, 3D effect crated using the digital elevation model
 At 1:57 - Debussy crater
 At 1:58 - Beagle rupes
 At 2:04 - Mosaic view of north pole, showing the shadowed regions
 At 2:06 - As previous, with superimposed radar data indicating likely water-ice deposits
 At 2:11 - A volcanic vent near the edge of Caloris basin
 At 2:34 - Derain crater
 At 2:36 - Disney crater and two unnamed craters that resemble Mickey Mouse
 At 2:38 - Basho crater while the Sun is low in the sky
 At 2:40 - Basho crater again, but now with the Sun nearly overhead
 At 2:45 - Degas crater
 At 2:58 - 'Weird terrain' at the Caloris antipode
 At 3:03 - Waters crater with the 'blue tongue' of dark impact melt material
 At 3:10 - Seuss crater
 At 3:13 - Caloris basin
 At 3:15 - Pit in Scarlatti crater, with prominent hollows on the pit rim
 At 3:17 - Enhanced color of Caloris basin
 At 3:22 - A lava channel that had flowed into the Kofi crater
 At 3:29 - More detail of Caloris basin floor
 At 3:30 - The young, bright-rayed Mena crater
 At 3:37 - Central peaks of Eminescu crater, with hollows around the bases of the peaks
 At 3:39 - Apollodorus and Pantheon fossae
 At 3:41 - The hollows on the floor of Sander crater
 
 Credits: Images and animation stills courtesy NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington. Music: "Mercury Ridge" by Simon Wilkinson (thebluemask.com). Video creation and time-lapse animations by Mark 'Indy' Kochte.

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/gallery/sciencePhotos/image.php?gallery_id=2&image_id=1116

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We Are the 0.00007%!

Release Date: March 15, 2013



Date acquired: December 30, 2012
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 265399328
Image ID: 3239509
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
WAC filter: 7 (748 nanometers)
Center Latitude: 85.54°
Center Longitude: 106.8° E
Resolution: 162 meters/pixel
Scale: This image is approximately 60 km (37 mi.) across.
Incidence Angle: 85.5°
Emission Angle: 11.9°
Phase Angle: 73.7°

Of Interest: Although most of the surface in this image had been seen by MESSENGER before this image was acquired, the area outlined in white, approximately 51 square km (20 square mi.) brought MESSENGER's image coverage of the innermost planet from 99.999993%% to a full 100%! The journey from 45% coverage by the Mariner 10 spacecraft to 100% coverage has enabled a better understanding of the global processes that shaped Mercury's formation and evolution. Even so, only a tiny fraction of the planet has been observed at the highest resolution. Improving high-resolution coverage is an important aspect of MESSENGER's proposed second extended mission at Mercury.

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, MESSENGER acquired 88,746 images and extensive other data sets. MESSENGER is now in a yearlong extended mission, during which plans call for the acquisition of more than 80,000 additional images to support MESSENGER's science goals.

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=1115

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MESSENGER Has Imaged 100 Percent of Mercury

03.06.13

The Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) on the MESSENGER spacecraft, in orbit about Mercury for nearly two years, has finally imaged 100 percent of the planet. Until recently, explains Brett Denevi of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., MDIS images acquired from orbit collectively covered most (99.99%), but not all, of the surface. The recent downlink of an image of the north polar region now completes the picture.

 "It's a huge accomplishment – we've gone from having more than half of the planet a complete mystery prior to MESSENGER to a full coverage that will enable a better understanding of the global processes that shaped Mercury's formation and evolution," says Denevi, the deputy instrument scientist for MDIS and a member of MESSENGER's Geology Discipline Group. "But we've still only seen just a tiny fraction of the planet at the highest resolution, and we are learning more daily from color images, reflectance spectra, geochemical measurements, and topographic information – none of which have anywhere close to 100% coverage, and all of which will be important aspects of a second extended mission at Mercury."

 During its one-year primary mission, MESSENGER acquired 88,746 images and extensive other data sets. It is now nearing completion of a yearlong extended mission, during which the spacecraft has acquired more than 80,000 additional images and other measurements to support MESSENGER's science goals.

 "Completing the initial imaging of the entire surface of our solar system's innermost planet is an important milestone," adds MESSENGER Principal Investigator Sean Solomon, of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. "Those global images have produced many important discoveries about how Mercury's crust formed and evolved, but all of those discoveries have raised new questions.  With ongoing and planned targeted observations, conducted synergistically with all of MESSENGER's instruments, we can look forward to further discoveries and new understanding."

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/messenger/media/Imaged100Percent.html

[Space Alien]

Эх  ...

Первый искусственный спутник Меркурия уходит на покой

Полет Messenger называют одной из самых непростых космических миссий, хотя бы потому, что к Меркурию очень трудно подобраться. Запуск состоялся еще в 2004 году, но, чтобы попасть на меркурианскую орбиту, нужно совершить целую череду так называемых "гравитационных маневров" — вилять между полями Земли, Венеры и, наконец, самого Меркурия. На это у Messenger ушло почти семь лет. В итоге, орбиты самой маленькой (с тех пор, как разжаловали Плутон), самой плотной, после нашей, и самой упрямой для науки планеты Солнечной системы он все же достиг и сделал ее, образно говоря, более близкой тем, кто живет на планете Земля.
В миссии пригодились камеры, спектрометры и другие приборы с труднопроизносимыми названиями, которыми напичкан однотонный аппарат из графита и металла. Ученые получали высококачественные снимки, узнавали, что и где на Меркурии находится, а также из чего состоит планета. До этого, в 1970-е, к ней ненадолго подлетал лишь Mariner.
Messenger подтвердил то, что раньше было лишь теорией, и сам сделал много открытий. Теперь мы знаем, что на Меркурии когда-то были вулканы, геологический состав очень сложный, ядро состоит из расплавленного железа, магнитное поле ведет себя странно, атмосфера, если и существует, то условно, а перепады температур такие, что и представить трудно: адская жара на солнечной стороне, лютый мороз — на обратной.
В копилку достижений Messenger можно добавить еще и "Семейный портрет Солнечной системы". Он был снят в перерыве между маневрами, от камеры спрятались лишь Уран с Нептуном. Миссию аппарата называют успешной, даже выпустили специальные марки, но, независимо от решения НАСА по поводу его дальнейшей судьбы, запас прочности и топлива еще остается.

http://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=1057613&cid=7

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"Мессенджер" останется на орбите Меркурия до решения НАСА о его судьбе

МОСКВА, 17 мар — РИА Новости. Зонд НАСА "Мессенджер", чья двухгодичная миссия на орбите Меркурия официально завершается 17 марта, будет продолжать работу в нормальном режиме до тех пор, пока руководство НАСА не примет решение о продлении или прекращении проекта, сообщила РИА Новости менеджер проекта Хелен Винтерс (Helene Winters).
"Мессенджер" вышел на орбиту Меркурия в марте 2011 года, став первым в истории искусственным спутником этой планеты. К настоящему времени он закончил картографирование всей его поверхности, создав первую полную карту ближайшей к Солнцу планеты. Исследователи ранее обратились к НАСА с просьбой продлить еще на два года миссию зонда, которая может быть прекращена из-за отсутствия средств.
"НАСА в настоящее время рассматривает вопрос о продлении операций, и до принятия формального решения нас попросили, чтобы мы продолжали управлять космическим аппаратом и научными приборами", — сказала Винтерс.
Она отметила, что после завершения миссии "Мессенджер" в конечном счете упадет на Меркурий, в основном из-за гравитационного воздействия Солнца, которое влияет на его орбиту. Пока на борту аппарата есть топливо, ученые могут корректировать орбиту и отсрочить падение.
Зонд "Мессенджер" (MESSENGER — MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) был запущен в космос в 2004 году. Он стал первым аппаратом, который был отправлен к Меркурию после "Маринера-10" (был запущен в 1970-х годах). "Мессенджер" исследует Меркурий, его геологию и геохимию с помощью бортовых спектрометров и высокочувствительных камер, работающих в инфракрасном и видимом диапазоне. Ранее с помощью зонда ученые доказали присутствие водяного льда у полюсов Меркурия, а также обнаружили, что центр магнитного поля планеты сдвинут относительно ее геометрического центра.

http://ria.ru/eco/20130317/927679002.html

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MESSENGER Mission News
 March 18, 2013
 http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/

MESSENGER Completes Its First Extended Mission at Mercury

On March 17, 2013, MESSENGER successfully completed its year-long first extended mission in orbit about Mercury, building on the groundbreaking scientific results from its earlier primary mission. Today the team is poised to embark on a second extended mission that promises to provide new observations of Mercury's surface and interior at unprecedented spatial resolution and of the planet's dynamic magnetosphere and exosphere at high time resolution during the peak and declining phase of the current solar cycle.
 
 "NASA is currently considering a second extension to mission operations and until the formal decision is made has asked that we continue to operate the spacecraft and its scientific instruments," says MESSENGER Project Manager Helene Winters of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland.
 
 During its first extended mission, MESSENGER completed 12 specialized measurement campaigns that led to new discoveries about surface volatiles on Mercury, the duration of volcanism, the evolution of long-wavelength topography, the nature of localized regions of enhanced exospheric density, the effect of the solar cycle on Mercury's exosphere, and Mercury's energetic electrons.
 
 Among the most recent results was confirmation of the long-held theory that the planet harbors abundant water ice and other frozen volatile materials within its permanently shadowed polar craters.
 
 If approved by NASA, a second extended mission would seek answers to still further questions, each stimulated by findings from the primary mission and first extended mission, including:

[/li]
• What active and recent processes have affected Mercury's surface?
  
• How has the state of stress in Mercury's crust evolved over time?
  
• How have compositions of volcanic materials on Mercury varied with time?
  
• What are the characteristics of volatile sequestration in Mercury's north polar region?
  
• What are the consequences of precipitating ions and energetic electrons at Mercury?
  
• How do Mercury's exosphere and magnetosphere respond to extreme solar wind conditions near and following solar maximum?
  
• What novel insights into Mercury's thermal and crustal evolution can be obtained from high-resolution measurements made at low altitudes?
  

A possible second extended mission is among the topics MESSENGER team members will be discussing on March 20 in a session at the 44th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas.
 
 "Mercury has been revealing its many secrets, but each discovery has led to new puzzles," adds MESSENGER Principal Investigator Sean Solomon, of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. "We now have a healthy spacecraft in orbit around a planet that will not be visited by spacecraft again for more than 10 years. Our scientific plans for a second extended mission build on past discoveries, can be accomplished with planned orbital observations, span an unprecedented phase of the solar cycle, and include extraordinarily low-altitude campaigns that will offer spectacular new views of Mercury's surface and near-surface environment. We hope that NASA will support the continued investigation of the most enigmatic of the inner planets."

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 entered orbit about Mercury on March 17, 2011 (March 18, 2011 UTC), to begin a yearlong study of its target planet. MESSENGER's extended mission began on March 18, 2012, and ended one year later. A possible second extended mission is currently under evaluation by NASA. Dr. Sean C. Solomon, the Director of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, 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.

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=237

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Newly Named Mercury Craters Honor Hawaiian Guitarist, Beloved Young Adult Author
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=238

Кратеры на Меркурии получили имена Рериха и Лавкрафта

МОСКВА, 26 мар — РИА Новости. Международный астрономический союз утвердил названия для девяти кратеров на Меркурии, предложенные командой зонда "Мессенджер", который составил первую в истории полную карту этой планеты. На этой карте теперь появятся имена русского художника Николая Рериха, американского фантаста Говарда Лавкрафта — создателя Ктулху, а также других художников, писателей и музыкантов.

К настоящему времени собственные имена получили около 300 кратеров на Меркурии. Согласно правилам союза, кратеры на этой планете должны получать названия в честь художников, музыкантов, а также писателей и поэтов.

Девять новых имен — это эстонская писательница Бетти Альвер (Betti Alver), литовский поэт Кристионас Донелайтис (Kristijonas Donelaitis), итальянский сценарист и драматург Эннио Флайано (Ennio Flaiano), австралийский фотограф Джеймс Херли (James Hurley), американская писательница Мадлен Лэнгл (Madeleine L'Engle), американский фантаст Говард Лавкрафт (Howard Lovecraft), венгерский поэт Шандор Петефи (Petofi Sandor), гавайский музыкант Чарльз Пахинуи (Charles Pahinui), а также российский художник Николай Рерих.

Девять новых кратеров присоединились к 95 другим, названия для которых ранее были предложены командой "Мессенджера", названным после первого пролета зонда мимо Меркурия в январе 2008 года.

http://ria.ru/science/20130326/929125597.html

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44th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference at the The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center, The Woodlands, Texas, on March 18–22, 2013.
 
 http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2013/programAbstracts/view/lpsc2013_full_program.pdf

MERCURY SCIENCE FROM MESSENGER

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2013/pdf/2189.pdf
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2013/pdf/2458.pdf
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2013/pdf/2033.pdf
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2013/pdf/1015.pdf
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2013/pdf/2164.pdf
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2013/pdf/2485.pdf
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2013/pdf/2042.pdf
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2013/pdf/2444.pdf
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2013/pdf/2364.pdf
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2013/pdf/2773.pdf
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2013/pdf/1261.pdf
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2013/pdf/1311.pdf
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2013/pdf/2907.pdf

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http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/index.php

750 суток на орбите Меркурия!

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Опубликована самая подробная фотка поверхности Меркурия.

Extreme Closeup
Release Date: April 30, 2013
Topics: NAC, Smooth Terrain



Date acquired: April 30, 2012
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 244286162
Image ID: 1738315
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 64.44°
Center Longitude: 257.5° E
Resolution: 7 meters/pixel
Scale: The diagonal of this image is approximately 11 km (7 mi.) across.
Incidence Angle: 70.0°
Emission Angle: 11.8°
Phase Angle: 81.8°

Of Interest: This is the highest resolution image taken to date of the planet Mercury! It shows an area just outside of a 33-km-diameter (21-mi.-diameter) crater to the southwest of Gauguin crater. The smooth areas here are likely filled with melt that was made and ejected as the crater formed. Only five images at resolutions better than 10 m/pixel have been taken in MESSENGER's first two years of orbital operations. If MESSENGER's second extended mission is approved, many more high-resolution images like this are planned.

This image was acquired as a high-resolution targeted observation. Targeted observations are images of a small area on Mercury's surface at resolutions much higher than the 200-meter/pixel morphology base map. It is not possible to cover all of Mercury's surface at this high resolution, but typically several areas of high scientific interest are imaged in this mode each week.

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. During the first two years of orbital operations, MESSENGER acquired over 150,000 images and extensive other data sets. MESSENGER is capable of continuing orbital operations until early 2015.

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=1157

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http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/index.php

Orbits Around Mercury

Orbits completed: 2001

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MESSENGER Mission News
 May 24, 2013

MESSENGER Completes Its 2,000th Orbit of Mercury, Provides Data on Solar Magnetic Field

MESSENGER began its 2,000th orbit around Mercury earlier this week, on May 22. The spacecraft completed its primary mission on March 17, 2012, and its first extended mission on March 17, 2013. The team is awaiting word fr om NASA on a proposal for a second extended mission. In the meantime, instruments aboard the spacecraft continue to gather new data on Mercury and its environment.

From May 6 to May 14, MESSENGER traversed a superior solar conjunction, during which the spacecraft was on the far side of the Sun from Earth. Scientists used the opportunity to measure the characteristics of the solar magnetic field from the Faraday rotation of its radio-frequency carrier.

"We found the orientation of the magnetic field within a coronal mass ejection (CME) that crossed the line of sight on May 10," says Elizabeth Jensen, of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona. "We saw the rotation of the plane of polarization of MESSENGER's radio-frequency signal as it moved deeper into the corona, giving information on the Sun's magnetic field configuration on May 11; and on May 12, we saw magnetohydrodynamic waves, a very important mode of energy transfer in the corona."

Solar storms cause communications disruptions, expose spacecraft and personnel in airplanes to radiation, and threaten electrical grids. Jensen says that the observations of the CME demonstrate the utility of this technique to predict the threat of solar storms headed toward Earth almost immediately after they erupt.

"Understanding the accuracy of models for the solar magnetic field and solar wind generation requires testing," she says. "Although other methods can be used in active regions, Faraday rotation is the only way to test the magnetic field models in the largest part of the corona wh ere the solar wind is accelerating."

At its closest point to Mercury, MESSENGER will be about 447 kilometers (277.8 miles) above a point near 83.1° N latitude. Since its most recent orbit-correction maneuver on April 20, 2012, the spacecraft has completed three orbits of Mercury every day. At this rate, says mission trajectory lead James McAdams of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, the spacecraft will reach its 3,000th orbit around Mercury on April 20, 2014.

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=239

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MESSENGER Mission News
June 7, 2013

IAU Approves New Names for Ten Major Fault Scarps on Mercury

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) recently approved a proposal from the MESSENGER Science Team to assign names to 10 rupes, the long cliff-like escarpments that formed over major faults along which one large block of crust on Mercury was thrust up and over another. The IAU has been the arbiter of planetary and satellite nomenclature since its inception in 1919. In keeping with the established naming theme for rupes on Mercury, all of the newly designated features are named after ships of discovery.

"We proposed the name Enterprise Rupes for the longest rupes on Mercury, which is 820 kilometers (510 miles) long. The USS Enterprise was launched in 1874 and conducted the first surveys of the Mississippi and Amazon rivers," says Michelle Selvans of the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the National Air and Space Museum. Selvans led the effort to name this group of rupes.

"We also recommended some fun names, such as Calypso Rupes, for Jacques Cousteau's ship," she says. And other names were proposed for their personal connections, such as Palmer Rupes, named after an icebreaker research vessel on which Selvans sailed to conduct marine geophysics research offshore of Antarctica. The other names are

    * Alvin Rupes, after DSV Alvin. Built in 1964 as one of the world's first deep-ocean submersibles, Alvin has made more than 4,400 dives. It can reach nearly 63 percent of the global ocean floor.

    * Belgica Rupes, after RV Belgica. Built in 1884, this steamship was originally designed as a whaling ship. It was converted to a research ship in 1896 and took part in the Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897-1901, becoming the first ship to overwinter in the Antarctic.

    * Carnegie Rupes, after a yacht launched in 1909 as a research vessel. The ship was built almost entirely from wood and other non-magnetic materials to allow sensitive magnetic measurements to be taken for the Carnegie Institution's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism. During 20 years at sea the vessel traveled nearly 500,000 kilometers (300,000 miles) and carried out a series of cruises until an onboard explosion in port destroyed the ship in 1929.

    * Duyfken Rupes, after a small Dutch ship built in the late 16th century. In 1606, the vessel sailed from the Indonesian island of Banda in search of gold and trade opportunities on the island of Nova Guinea. Under the command of Willem Janszoon, the ship and her crew did not find gold, but they did discover the northern coast of a huge continent: Australia.

    * Eltanin Rupes, after the USNS Eltanin, launched in 1957 as a noncommissioned Navy cargo ship. The vessel was built with a double hull and officially classified as an Ice-Breaking Cargo Ship. In 1962, the ship was refitted to perform research in the southern oceans and reclassified an Oceanographic Research Vessel. Magnetic field measurements made with the Eltanin were critical in validating the hypothesis of sea-floor spreading.

    * Nautilus Rupes, after the Exploration Vessel Nautilus. In service since 1967, the ship has conducted underwater studies in archeology in the Mediterranean and Caribbean seas. The vessel is currently equipped with remotely operated vehicles and a high-bandwidth satellite communication system for remote science and education.

    * Terror Rupes, after the HMS Terror. Built in the early 1800s as a British Royal Navy bomb vessel, the ship was involved in the bombardment of Fort McHenry, one of the last battles of the War of 1812. The bombardment provided the inspiration for Francis Scott Key to write the American national anthem "Star Spangled Banner." After being retrofitted for polar exploration, the ship participated in Antarctic exploration.

Selvans says that Mercury's rupes are revealing a great deal about the evolution of the planet. Each feature formed over a major fault system that accommodated kilometers of horizontal shortening of Mercury's crust. The accumulated contraction taken up by the faults that underlie the rupes collectively records the cooling and contraction of Mercury's interior over the past 4 billion years of planetary history.

In choosing those rupes to receive names, the team picked from among the longest and most geologically interesting features that have been imaged by MESSENGER. "These features are easy to identify in images taken at dawn and dusk, when they throw shadows along their entire length," Selvans says. "A crisp shadow that is only about 1 kilometer wide but hundreds of kilometers long really stands out in images."

Since 1976, the IAU has approved names for 27 rupes on Mercury. The latest names are the first new designations for rupes in more than five years.

"The MESSENGER team is grateful to the IAU for their approval of formal names for rupes on Mercury," adds MESSENGER Principal Investigator Sean Solomon of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. "MESSENGER observations have revealed that these deformational features accommodated far more crustal contraction than indicated by earlier estimates. The new names will permit the MESSENGER team to document this finding in a clear and straightforward manner. Moreover, the names give us the opportunity to recognize that the exploration of Earth's oceanic regions continues in parallel with the exploration of Earth's sister planets."

More information about the names of features on Mercury and the other objects in the Solar System can be found at the U.S. Geological Survey's Planetary Nomenclature Web site: http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/index.html .

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=240

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Проба пера на сообщении instml (Извиняй товарищ) :
Неудачно 

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19 и 20 июля планируется фотографирование Земли и Луны в рамках программы поиска спутников Меркурия, размер Земли на фото будет меньше 1 пикселя. Также в это же время АМС Кассини сфотографирует Землю из окрестностей Сатурна.

MESSENGER Mission News
July 18, 2013

MESSENGER to Capture Images of Earth and Moon During Search for Satellites of Mercury

NASA's Mercury-orbiting MESSENGER spacecraft will capture images of Earth on July 19 and 20. The images will be taken at 7:49 a.m., 8:38 a.m. and 9:41 a.m. EDT on both days. Nearly half of the Earth, including all the Americas, Africa, and Europe, will be illuminated and facing MESSENGER, according to Hari Nair, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory planetary scientist who designed and is implementing the campaign. The images on the second day will also include pictures of the Moon, where all six of the Apollo landing sites will be illuminated, 44 years to the day after Apollo 11 landed on the Moon's rocky surface.
 
 "It's important to note that the Earth and Moon are going to be less than a pixel in size, and so no details will be seen," Nair cautioned. "In practice, all we're going to see are two bright dots."
 
 These images of Earth and the Moon are coincidental, taken as part of a search for natural satellites around Mercury. Of all the planets, only Venus and Mercury have no known moons. Earth has one, and Mars has two. Jupiter and Saturn have dozens each; and even tiny Pluto is now known to have five moons.
 
 Mercury's Moon Mystery
 
 Scientists do not entirely understand how moons are formed, but there are several theories. Some of the moons around the giant planets probably formed from the disks of gas and dust that encircled those planets in the early solar system. Others, like Earth's Moon and Pluto's largest moon, Charon, were likely assembled from material ejected during collisions between the planet and a slightly smaller body. In still other cases, moons are thought to have originally been asteroids that passed sufficiently close to their host planet to be gravitationally captured.
 
 "We don't know why Mercury does not have a moon," said William Merline, of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado, who, along with SwRI's Clark Chapman, leads MESSENGER's investigation of small bodies orbiting Mercury and in the inner solar system.
 
 "It may have been just unfortunate in not having the right history, in terms of collisions," Merline continued. "Or it may at one time have had a moon in an orbital trajectory that was disrupted by the strong gravitational pull of the Sun, in combination with Mercury's highly eccentric (oblong) orbit around the Sun. Such an orbit makes the effect of the Sun's gravity highly variable with time, and may degrade the conditions for stability of a moon's orbit. But these possibilities are only speculations, based on theoretical ideas. To complete the picture, we must search for the existence of satellites to validate any of these suggestions."
 
 During Mariner 10's first flyby of Mercury in 1974, its instruments detected an anomalous ultraviolet signal off the edge of Mercury's surface, leading a scientist to conclude that the signal was the result of a satellite. But the source of the signal was soon found to be a bright star with a high ultraviolet emission. Later, Mariner 10 performed a dedicated search for satellites and found none larger than 5 kilometers in diameter.
 
 In February, MESSENGER, which began orbiting Mercury in March 2011, conducted its first search for satellites, and those data are still being studied. This search takes place during Mercury's aphelion, the planet's farthest point from the Sun. "This location has the advantage that the camera will be as cold as it ever gets," Nair explained. "Since we are looking for very faint objects, having a warm camera introduces thermal noise. The downside of being farther from the Sun is that any satellites will be dimmer at this time, as the Sun is their light source. So it was a tradeoff between brighter targets or a quieter detector, and we opted to go for a time when the detector would be quieter."
 
 The team has also optimized the search pattern, taking many images at varying time intervals to spot faster-moving objects, according to Chapman. "The camera can potentially see objects as small as 100 meters, or 328 feet, in size, about the length of an American football field," he said.
 
 MESSENGER's images of Earth and the Moon will be released next week. NASA's Cassini spacecraft, in orbit around Saturn, will also be acquiring images of Earth on July 19, between 5:27 and 5:42 p.m. EDT. The Cassini Earth portrait is part of a more extensive mosaic -- or multi-image picture -- of the Saturn system as it is backlit by the Sun.
 
 "That images of our planet can be acquired on a single day from two distant outposts in the solar system provides a wonderful reminder of the vigor and excitement of this nation's ongoing program of planetary exploration," added MESSENGER Principal Investigator Sean Solomon, of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. "The Saturn system and the innermost planet are two very different outcomes of planetary formation and evolution, so these two sets of images also prompt a sustained appreciation of the special attributes of Earth. There's no place like home."

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=242

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Elliptical Crater on Mercury

This color image, taken on May 1, 2013 by the Wide Angle Camera (WAC) instrument aboard NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft orbiting Mercury, features Hovnatanian crater, named for Armenian painter Hakop Hovnatanian. The crater's elliptical shape and the bright rays' butterfly pattern indicate that a very oblique impact produced the crater. The brightness of the rays indicate that they are relatively young features on Mercury's surface.

This image was acquired as a targeted high-resolution 11-color image set. Acquiring 11-color targets is a new campaign that began in March, 2013 and that utilizes all of the camera's 11 narrow-band color filters. Because of the large data volume involved, only features of special scientific interest are targeted for imaging in all 11 colors.

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. MESSENGER has acquired over 150,000 images and extensive other data sets, and is capable of continuing orbital operations until early 2015.

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



http://www.nasa.gov/content/elliptical-crater-on-mercury/

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MESSENGER Mission News
September 6, 2013

Planetary Data System Releases MESSENGER Data from Fourth Mercury Solar Day

Data collected during MESSENGER's 19th through 24th 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 through the fourth full Mercury solar day of MESSENGER orbital operations.

This 10th delivery to PDS makes available the formatted raw and calibrated data for MESSENGER's science instruments and the radio science investigation. SPICE data from MESSENGER's 2004 launch through the period of this release are also included.

The availability of the new data comes on the heels of some highly anticipated upgrades to the MESSENGER mission's ACT-REACT-QuickMap software developed by Applied Coherent Technology Corporation. The software package allows users to examine global mosaics of Mercury constructed with high-resolution images from this and previous PDS deliveries. The Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) northern-hemisphere topographic map is now available at a higher resolution.

"Topography is important for understanding the volcanic and tectonic history of Mercury and, owing to fortunate geometry, the polar thermal environment and the emplacement of volatile ices as well," explains MLA Instrument Scientist Gregory Neumann, of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. "We have sharpened the picture of the north polar region considerably. The laser can corroborate the exciting results of the imaging campaign and see into the shadows. But we are still wrestling with the shape of Mercury, which is unusual among slowly rotating terrestrial bodies. These updates to the slowly accumulating topographic map will lead to further collaborations with other instrument teams and should reveal new surprises."

QuickMap now also provides a complete image mosaic, new elevation profiling and interactive three-dimensional viewing tools, and tools for viewing spectra from the Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer (MASCS) and the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS).

"QuickMap's spectra retriever now allows users to find on the surface an individual footprint of the MASCS instrument," explains MASCS Instrument Scientist Noam Izenberg of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. "Each of these footprints varies in size and shape and contains an individual spectrum of the light reflected off the surface at wavelengths from 300 to 1,450 nanometers. The differences between these spectra from one place to another help to reveal differences in the composition of surface material on Mercury."

Brian Grigsby, the coordinator of MESSENGER's Student Planetary Investigator Program and science department chair at Shasta High School in Redding, California, says that the enhancements to QuickMap will allow students to gain a much deeper understanding of the surface morphology, geology, and planetary evolution of Mercury and to explore STEM-related career fields than they would not normally be able to do through conventional methods.

"The enhancements also can help the public acquire a broader view of surface features on Mercury from the topography data (to examine craters, hills, and valleys), and even 'colorized' views that can enhance certain features that aren't usually evident from grey-scale views of the surface," Grigsby says. "The new data will provide a much richer experience not only for students studying Mercury, but for the public as well."

QuickMap can be accessed via links on 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/ .

The data for this release are available online at http://pds.nasa.gov/subscription_service/SS-20130906.html , and all of the MESSENGER data archived at the PDS are available at http://pds.nasa.gov. The team will deliver the next mission data set to PDS in March 2014.

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=243