Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




MERCURY RISING
MESSENGER On Autopilot For Orbit Insertion
by Staff Writers
Laurel MD (SPX) Mar 18, 2011


Pictured here is a view of the Caloris Basin on Mercury taken by NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft.

MESSENGER is now on autopilot, faithfully executing a detailed set of instructions required to achieve its historic rendezvous with Mercury tomorrow night.

At 8 a.m. Tuesday, all attitude re-orientations planned to control the probe's momentum accumulation and adjust its trajectory were successfully completed. MESSENGER turned to point its high-gain antenna back to Earth for the final stretch of continuous data monitoring until just before the start of Mercury orbit insertion.

The operations team at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), in Laurel, Md., has monitored on-board commanded vehicle re-configurations and has sent pre-defined ground commands to establish configurations for the burn.

The science instrument suite has recorded the last set of data for the cruise portion of the mission, and all instruments have been turned off. Although not in an operational mode, the Gamma-Ray Spectrometer has been left in its stand-by mode to ensure thermal stability of the delicate cryogenic cooler.

The instruments will be tuned back on as part of orbital commissioning beginning on March 23.

"The navigation team is reporting that there has been little change from the previous targeting estimates, so the spacecraft is on the glide-slope for final approach to Mercury," says MESSENGER Systems Engineer Eric Finnegan.

.


Related Links
NASA MESSENGER
News Flash at Mercury
Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com
Lunar Dreams and more






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








MERCURY RISING
First Messenger Image From Orbit Planned For March 29
Laurel MD (SPX) Mar 17, 2011
This first planned image is scheduled to be taken on March 29, 2011, 7:40 UTC, or 3:40 am EDT. Over the subsequent six hours, MESSENGER will acquire 364 images in total before beginning to downlink the data to Earth. This image will be acquired during the commissioning phase of the MESSENGER mission, during which the spacecraft and instrument performance will be verified through a series o ... read more


MERCURY RISING
A New View Of Moon

Super Full Moon

LRO Delivers Treasure Trove Of Data

Goddard's Chief Scientist Talks About The 'Supermoon' Phenomenon

MERCURY RISING
Next Mars Rover Gets A Test Taste Of Mars Conditions

Alternatives Have Begun In Bid To Hear From Spirit

Opportunity Completes Study Of Ruiz Garcia Rock

Time Is Now For Human Mission To Mars

MERCURY RISING
Planetary Exploration Suit Will Be Tested In Antarctica

From Outer Sol To The Inner Rock Human Space Is Growing

Health experts sound warning over iodine rush

US, Russia sign deal to transport astronauts until 2016

MERCURY RISING
What Future for Chang'e-2

China setting up new rocket production base

China's Tiangong-1 To Be Launched By Modified Long March II-F Rocket

China Expects To Launch Fifth Lunar Probe Chang'e-5 In 2017

MERCURY RISING
Astronaut Cady Coleman Shares Her Love of the Flute from Space

Launch Of New ISS mission Slated For April 5

Europe agrees to space station extension

Russia says delayed space flight on for April 5

MERCURY RISING
SES And ILS Announce Launch Of SES-6 On ILS Proton In 2013

LockMary To Launch DigitalGlobe WorldView-3 Earth Imaging Satellite

ORBCOMM And SpaceX Set Plans To Launch Satellites On Next Falcon 9

Arianespace's Success Is Built On Transparency

MERCURY RISING
Report Identifies Priorities For Planetary Science 2013-2022

Planetary Society Statement On Planetary Science Decadal Survey For 2013-2022

Meteorite Tells Of How Planets Are Born In A Swirl Of Dust

Planet Formation In Action

MERCURY RISING
Japan again detects abnormal radiation in food

ASC Signal to Demonstrate Next Gen Controller

Radioactive traces found in Japan tap water

Six workers exposed to high radiation at Japan plant




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement