MESSENGER ready for launch
Posted: Sat, Jul 31, 2004, 2:17 PM ET (1817 GMT)
NASA's first mission to Mercury in three decades is on schedule to launch early Monday, agency officials said Friday. The Mercury Surface, Space, Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging, or MESSENGER, spacecraft is scheduled to lift off atop a Delta 2 from Cape Canaveral at 2:16 am EDT (0616 GMT) Monday. During its six-and-a-half-year journey to Mercury, the spacecraft will perform one flyby of Earth and two of Venus, then make four passes by Mercury before settling into orbit in March of 2011. MESSENGER carries a suit of instruments, including a camera, spectrometers, magnetometers, and laser altimeters to study the planet in detail. The only time a spacecraft has visited Mercury is NASA's Mariner 10, which made three flybys of the planet in the mid-1970s.
NASA's first mission to Mercury in three decades is on schedule to launch early Monday, agency officials said Friday. The Mercury Surface, Space, Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging, or MESSENGER, spacecraft is scheduled to lift off atop a Delta 2 from Cape Canaveral at 2:16 am EDT (0616 GMT) Monday. During its six-and-a-half-year journey to Mercury, the spacecraft will perform one flyby of Earth and two of Venus, then make four passes by Mercury before settling into orbit in March of 2011. MESSENGER carries a suit of instruments, including a camera, spectrometers, magnetometers, and laser altimeters to study the planet in detail. The only time a spacecraft has visited Mercury is NASA's Mariner 10, which made three flybys of the planet in the mid-1970s.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
New Virgin Galactic spaceplane arrives at Spaceport America
Posted: Sat, Oct 31 10:38 AM ET (1438 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Monday, November 2
Forum: Springs’ space future is bright without Space Command
Colorado Springs Gazette — 5:37 am ET (1037 GMT) S. Korea's Air Force to participate in U.S.-led space war game for 1st time
Yonhap News — 5:35 am ET (1035 GMT) The growing threats that make the Space Force essential
Washington Examiner — 5:33 am ET (1033 GMT) Lawfare against Elon Musk could affect the Artemis program
The Hill — 5:26 am ET (1026 GMT) Southland's global space company won't write down military policy
The Southland App (NZ) — 5:25 am ET (1025 GMT) |
