The MESSENGER Mission to Mercury: Sharing the Initial Findings with the Public

Details The MESSENGER Mission to Mercury: Sharing the Initial Findings with the Public The MESSENGER Mission to Mercury: Sharing the Initial Findings with the Public

Sep 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009dps....41.6706s&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #41, #67.06

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Scientific paper

NASA's MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission will be the first orbital exploration of the planet closest to the Sun. En route toward orbit insertion about Mercury in March 2011, MESSENGER has used the gravity of Earth, Venus, and Mercury for six critical assists to modify the spacecraft trajectory. The three flybys of Mercury have permitted new observations of the innermost planet well before the orbital phase of the mission.
During the first Mercury pass on 14 January 2008, the probe's cameras and other sophisticated, high-technology instruments took unprecedented images and the first up-close measurements of the planet in nearly 33 years. On 6 October 2008, MESSENGER made its second flyby of Mercury, passing just 125 miles (200 kilometers) above the cratered surface, snapping over 1000 pictures, and collecting a variety of other planetary data while gaining another gravity assist needed to keep the probe on its precise track. The third and final flyby of Mercury occurs on 29 September 2009.
These flybys represent the first spacecraft observations of Mercury since the Mariner 10 mission imaged less than half the planet's surface in 1974 and 1975. The public events and activities carried out in conjunction with the flybys, as well as plans for future public events, provide lessons for other deep-space missions. Public participation in the MESSENGER mission poses unique challenges; long waits between each flyby and between the third flyby and orbit insertion allow interest to wane between events. Nonetheless, each flyby offers an opportunity to try a different set of activities at different levels of participation. Given the gap of more than 30 years between Mercury missions, how does one assess and plan for the public's interest and participation in these activities? What does the public want to see, and how can they participate?

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