MESSENGER

INTRODUCTION:
(i) 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.

(ii) The name is a backronym for

"Mercury Surface, Space Environment,
Geochemistry, and Ranging", and a reference
to the messenger god Mercury from Roman
mythology.

(iii) MESSENGER was launched aboard

a Delta II rocket in August 2004. During its
first flyby of Mercury in January 2008,
messenger became the second mission, after
Mariner 10 in 1975, to reach Mercury.
 (iv) MESSENGER entered orbit around
Mercury on March 18, 2011, becoming the
first spacecraft to do so.It successfully
completed its primary mission in 2012.

AIM OF MESSENGER:
There are six key questions that
Messenger aims to answer. The project will
try to discover why Mercury is so dense,
what Mercury’s geologic history is, what the
structure of Mercury’s core is, what the
nature of Mercury’s magnetic field is, what
unusual materials there are at Mercury’s
poles and what volatiles are important on
Mercury.

INSTRUMENTS:
There are eight science experiments
on board the spacecraft . They are
(1) a dual imaging system,
 (2) a gamma-ray and neutron
spectrometer,
(3) A magnetometer,
(4) A laser altimeter,
(5) Atmospheric (0.155–0.6 μm) and
surface (0.3–1.45 μm)spectrometers,
(6) An energitc particle and plasma
spectrometer,
(7) An X-ray spectrometer,
(8) A radio science Experiment that
uses the telecommunication system.
These instruments will be used to
accomplish the objectives discussed
previously.

MISSION:
(i) Mercury is the least known of all
the terrestrial planets, but it is probably the
only planet that holds the key to
understanding details of the origin and
evolution of all these bodies.
 (ii) This mission is one of NASA's
Discovery series of planetary exploration
missions.messenger is managed by the
Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns
Hopkins University in Maryland, and the
Carnegie Institution of Washington, D.C

(iii) Messenger will be placed in an

elliptical object with a 200-km periapse
altitude located at about 60°N latitude

(iv) The orbit has a 12-hour period

when data will be collected and read out. The
spacecraft will also collect valuable data on
its three flybys of Mercury prior to orbit
insertion.

(v) Among its initial discoveries was

finding high concentrations of magnesium
and calcium on Mercury’s night side,
identifying a significant northward offset of
Mercury’s magnetic field from the planet’s
center, finding large amounts of water in
Mercury’s exosphere, and revealing evidence
of past volcanic activity on the surface.

(vi) It was also during this first

extended mission that the spacecraft found
evidence of water ice at Mercury’s poles,
frozen at locations that never see the sunlight
(made possible by the fact that the tilt of
Mercury’s rotational axis is almost zero.)

IMAGE OF MESSENGER IN SPACE

INFORMATION ABOUT
MERCURY :
(i) In 2012, MESSENGER discovered
that Mercury's core is probably about 85
percent of its radius, which is an immense
fraction compared to Earth's core, which is
50percent of planet's radius.

(ii) NASA also released findings

about Mercury's landscape, which it called a
"curiosity." MESSENGER revealed a fairly
smooth planet, with less elevation than
observed on volcanic Mars or the moon.

(iii) Messenger team announced that

the probe had discovered large amounts of
water present in Mercury's exosphere, which
was an unexpected finding.
 (iv) The probe also constructed the
most detailed and accurate maps of Mercury
to date, and furthermore discovered carbon-
containing organic compoundsand water ice
inside permanently shadowed craters near
the north pole

Maps of magnesium/silicon and thermal

neutron absorption across mercury surface
END OF MISSION:
(i) After running out of propellent for
course adjustments, messenger entered its
expected terminal phase of orbital decay in
late 2014. The spacecraft's operation was
extended by several weeks by exploiting its
remaining supply of helium gas, which was
used to pressurize its propellant tanks, as
reaction mass.

(ii) Messenger continued studying

Mercury during its decay period.The
spacecraft crashed onto the surface of
Mercury on April 30, 2015, at 3:26 p.m.

(iii) The crash occurred at a place not

visible from Earth at the time, and thus was
not detected by any observers or instruments.
NASA confirmed the end of the messenger
mission at 3:40 p.m. after NASA's deep
space network did not detect the spacecraft's
reemergence from behind Mercury.

BIBLIOGRAPHY :
. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics
/earth-and-planetary-sciences/messenger-
spacecraft

. https://www.aerospacetechnology.
com/projects/messenger

.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki
MESSENGER