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Space Topics

MESSENGER


MESSENGER swung past Mercury on January 14, 2008 at 19:04:42 UTC. Stay tuned to The Planetary Society Weblog for images and updates!

Listen to Principal Investigator Sean Solomon describe the upcoming flyby on Planetary Radio.
Mercury is the least explored terrestrial planet; fully half of the little rocky world has never been seen up close. MESSENGER will change that, capturing a comprehensive survey of the planet's cratered and rocky surface, vaporous atmosphere, and inexplicable magnetic field using seven science instruments. "MESSENGER" is an acronym that stands for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging. Once it reaches Mercury, the mission will last 1 Earth year, which corresponds to 4 Mercury years, but only 2 Mercury solar days!

MESSENGER is now in transit to Mercury, but the journey will take a very long time. To conserve on fuel, the spacecraft must rely on gravity assist flybys of Earth, Venus (twice), and Mercury (3 times) before settling into orbit around Mercury in March of 2011. The Earth flyby took place successfully on August 2, 2005, and the two Venus flybys on October 24, 2006 and June 5, 2007. The next significant event on MESSENGER's calendar is its first flyby of Mercury, on January 14, 2008. The flyby will be the first spacecraft visit to Mercury in 33 years.

MESSENGER Facts
Launch date: August 3, 2004 at 06:15:56 UTC
Mercury flybys: planned for January 14 and October 6, 2008 and September 29, 2009
Mercury orbit insertion: planned for March 18, 2011
Primary mission end: March 2012