This is what an artist thinks MESSENGER will look like in orbit around Mercury. The white sunshade is on the left side of the spacecraft.
Image courtesy NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington.
MESSENGER Mission to Mercury
MESSENGER
is a spacecraft that will study Mercury;
the planet closest to the Sun. MESSENGER will blast off from Florida in early August 2004. The spacecraft will go into orbit around Mercury in March 2011. It will study Mercury from orbit for about one year.
MESSENGER is only the second spacecraft ever to visit Mercury. The first was
Mariner
10. Mariner 10 flew by Mercury three times in 1974 and 1975. Mariner
10 took pictures of about half of Mercury. One of MESSENGER's main goals is
to take pictures of the rest of Mercury.
Besides taking pictures, MESSENGER will study the surface and interior of
Mercury. It will also measure Mercury's magnetic
field. Mercury is very dense and has a large core. Scientists hope this
new spacecraft will help us learn why. They think MESSENGER will also help
us learn more about the formation of
Mercury, and how the planet has changed over time.
Why will MESSENGER take seven years to reach Mercury? NASA needed to keep
the cost of the mission low, so they had to use as little fuel as possible.
MESSENGER will fly past Earth once, Venus twice, and Mercury three times before
it goes into orbit around Mercury. When it flies by planets, the gravity of
the planets will help steer MESSENGER in the right direction without using
fuel.
Sunshine is very hot near Mercury. MESSENGER has a special sunshade that will
keep the spacecraft from getting too hot. The sunshade is like a beach umbrella!
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