The MESSENGER Payload

Details The MESSENGER Payload The MESSENGER Payload

Dec 2004

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004agufm.p23a0249g&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2004, abstract #P23A-0249

Physics

5464 Remote Sensing, 5494 Instruments And Techniques

Scientific paper

The MErcury, Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft, launched on 3 August 2004, will be the first orbiter of the planet Mercury. After insertion into a near-polar Mercury orbit in March 2011 MESSENGER will make detailed measurements of the planet for one Earth year. During the 6.6-year cruise phase, MESSENGER will fly by Mercury three times and map >90% of the planet. The payload consists of seven instruments, including a dual imaging system with wide-angle and narrow-angle cameras; an integrated ultraviolet, visible, and infrared spectrometer that is sensitive enough to detect atmospheric emissions and robust enough to map spectral absorption features on the sun-lit surface; gamma-ray, neutron, and X-ray spectrometers for remote geochemical mapping; a vector magnetometer to examine the internal and external field sources; a laser altimeter to examine the topography of surface features and determine whether Mercury has a fluid core; and an energetic particle and plasma spectrometer to characterize ionized species in the magnetosphere. The payload was fully calibrated before launch, and all instruments have been successfully operated in space. An Earth flyby one year after launch will be used for extensive in-flight calibration, and two Venus flybys will provide further opportunities for instrument observations. The MESSENGER spacecraft and instruments must cope with the >14 kWm-2 solar thermal input and the large velocity change required to reach and survive in Mercury orbit. Several unique technologies have made this mission possible.

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