MESSENGER Approaches Mercury : Big Pic
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Sept. 28, 2009 -- Tomorrow, NASA's MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging) spacecraft will make its third and final flyby of the Solar System's innermost planet, Mercury. After coming within 142 miles to the small planet's rocky surface, the robotic probe will be flung back into interplanetary space before arriving in Mercury orbit in 2011 for a year-long mission to study the planet in unprecedented detail.
However, that doesn't mean detailed science won't be carried out until then. During Tuesday's flyby, MESSENGER will focus its instruments on features of interest as picked out by the previous two flybys (in January and October 2008). High resolution spectral measurements will be taken and the probe will also investigate the complex relationship Mercury has with the sun.
This serene image of Mercury was taken by MESSENGER on Sept. 25 when the probe was 810,000 miles from the planet, traveling at a velocity of 7,400 miles/hour!
Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington.
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