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MESSENGER

"Mercury Messenger" redirects here. For the 2003 concept car, see Mercury Messenger (concept car). For other uses, see Messenger (disambiguation).

MESSENGER
Artist's rendering of MESSENGER orbiting Mercury
Mission typeMercury probe
OperatorNASA
COSPAR ID2004-030A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.28391
Websitemessenger.jhuapl.edu
Mission durationTotal:
10 years, 8 months and 27 days
At Mercury:
4 years, 1 month and 14 days
En route: 7 years
Primary mission: 1 year
First extension: 1 year[1][2]
Second extension: 2 years[3][4]
Spacecraft properties
ManufacturerApplied Physics Laboratory
Launch mass1,107.9 kg (2,443 lb)[5]
Power450 watts
Start of mission
Launch dateAugust 3, 2004, 06:15:56 (2004-08-03UTC06:15:56Z) UTC
RocketDelta II 7925H-9.5
Launch siteCape Canaveral SLC-17B
Entered serviceApril 4, 2011
End of mission
DisposalCrashed into Mercury
DestroyedApril 30, 2015 at 19:26 UT[6]
Orbital parameters
Reference systemHermiocentric
Perihermion altitude200 kilometers (120 mi)
Apohermion altitude10,300 kilometers (6,400 mi)
Inclination80 degrees
Period12 hours
EpochJanuary 1, 2000[7]
Flyby of Earth (gravity assist)
Closest approachAugust 2, 2005
Distance2,347 kilometers (1,458 mi)
Flyby of Venus (gravity assist)
Closest approachOctober 24, 2006
Distance2,990 kilometers (1,860 mi)
Flyby of Venus (gravity assist)
Closest approachJune 5, 2007
Distance337 kilometers (209 mi)
Flyby of Mercury
Closest approachJanuary 14, 2008
Distance200 kilometers (120 mi)
Flyby of Mercury
Closest approachOctober 6, 2008
Distance200 kilometers (120 mi)
Flyby of Mercury
Closest approachSeptember 29, 2009
Distance228 kilometers (142 mi)
Mercury orbiter
Orbital insertionMarch 18, 2011, 01:00 UTC[8]
 

MESSENGER was a NASA robotic space probe that orbited the planet Mercury between 2011 and 2015, studying Mercury's chemical composition, geology, and magnetic field.[9][10] The name is a backronym for "Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging", and a reference to the messenger god Mercury from Roman mythology.

MESSENGER was launched aboard a Delta II rocket in August 2004. Its path involved a complex series of flybys – the spacecraft flew by Earth once, Venus twice, and Mercury itself three times, allowing it to decelerate relative to Mercury using minimal fuel. During its first flyby of Mercury in January 2008, MESSENGER became the second mission, after Mariner 10 in 1975, to reach Mercury.[11][12][13]

MESSENGER entered orbit around Mercury on March 18, 2011, becoming the first spacecraft to do so.[9] It successfully completed its primary mission in 2012.[2] Following two mission extensions, the spacecraft used the last of its maneuvering propellant to deorbit, impacting the surface of Mercury on April 30, 2015.[14]

  1. ^ "NASA extends spacecraft's Mercury mission". UPI. November 15, 2011. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference ExMissionCompleted2013 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Wu, Brian (April 3, 2015). "NASA Set to Extend Mercury Mission for Another Month". Johns Hopkins University APL. The Science Times. Retrieved April 4, 2015.
  4. ^ Cowing, Keith, ed. (April 3, 2015). "MESSENGER's Operations at Mercury Extended" (Press release). Applied Physics Laboratory. Archived from the original on January 25, 2024. Retrieved April 4, 2015 – via SpaceRef.
  5. ^ "MESSENGER". NASA's Solar System Exploration website. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
  6. ^ "Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration". NASA Solar System Exploration.
  7. ^ Domingue, D.L.; Russell, C.T., eds. (2007). Messenger mission to Mercury (1st ed.). New York: Springer. pp. 225–245. ISBN 9780387772141.
  8. ^ Lee, Jimmy; Galuska, Mike (March 18, 2011). "NASA Chats – MESSENGER Prepares to Orbit Mercury". NASA. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
  9. ^ a b "NASA Spacecraft Circling Mercury". The New York Times. March 17, 2011. Retrieved July 9, 2013.
  10. ^ Wendel, J. (April 2015). "Mercury's secrets revealed by soon-to-crash spacecraft". Eos. 96. doi:10.1029/2015EO029165.
  11. ^ "Countdown to MESSENGER's Closest Approach with Mercury" (Press release). Johns Hopkins University. January 14, 2008. Archived from the original on May 13, 2013. Retrieved May 1, 2009.
  12. ^ "Critical Deep-Space Maneuver Targets MESSENGER for Its Second Mercury Encounter" (Press release). Johns Hopkins University. March 19, 2008. Archived from the original on May 13, 2013. Retrieved April 20, 2010.
  13. ^ "Deep-Space Maneuver Positions MESSENGER for Third Mercury Encounter" (Press release). Johns Hopkins University. December 4, 2008. Archived from the original on May 13, 2013. Retrieved April 20, 2010.
  14. ^ Corum, Jonathan (April 30, 2015). "Messenger's Collision Course With Mercury". The New York Times. Retrieved April 30, 2015.

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