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Maneuver keeps MESSENGER probe on track MESSENGER MISSION CONTROL REPORT Posted: September 27, 2004 MESSENGER marked its 52nd day of flight operations with a burst from its thrusters, completing a maneuver on Sept. 24 that kept it on course for next summer's Earth flyby.
At that distance radio signals reach Earth in just over a minute - meaning the burn, which started at 2 p.m. EDT, was effectively over when mission operators at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, picked up MESSENGER's signals through the NASA Deep Space Network tracking station near Madrid, Spain. MESSENGER is currently flying with its sunshade away from the Sun, allowing it to keep its instruments and systems warm without using power for heaters. The spacecraft is in good health and operating normally; subsystem and instrument tests resume today when the operations team turns on MESSENGER's instrument data processor (DPU-A) and checks its interfaces with the Magnetometer, X-Ray Spectrometer and Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer. Visit the Mission Design section for graphics and more details on the trajectory correction maneuver. The next maneuver is planned for Nov. 18. MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) is a scientific investigation of the planet Mercury, and the first NASA mission designed to orbit the planet closest to the Sun. Dr. Sean C. Solomon, of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, leads the mission as principal investigator. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, built and will operate the MESSENGER spacecraft and manages the Discovery-class mission for NASA. |
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Jim Kennedy, director of the Kennedy Space Center, and Col. Mark Owen, 45th Space Wing commander, hold a news conference on Monday, Sept. 27 to provide a preliminary report on damage from Hurricane Jeanne at KSC and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. (49min 30sec file)
Cameras aboard the International Space Station captured these views of Hurricane Jeanne on Saturday, Sept. 25 as the storm approached Florida. (3min 59sec file)
International Space Station program manager Bill Gerstenmaier holds a news conference Sept. 24 to discuss problems with the oxygen generation system and Expedition 10 launch preparations. (44min 06sec file)
Scientists describe a cosmic hurricane in this news conference from Sept. 23, explaining how two merging galaxy clusters churn high-pressure shock waves that leave thousands of galaxies strewn in the wake. (53min 24sec file)
The three men to launch aboard the next Soyuz spacecraft bound for the International Space Station -- Expedition 10 commander Leroy Chiao, flight engineer Salizhan Sharipov and Russian taxi cosmonaut Yuri Shargin -- hold a pre-flight news conference near Moscow on Sept. 23. (43min 05sec file)
Former International Space Station commander Mike Foale radioed current ISS science officer Mike Fincke on Sept. 22 to discuss actvities and work aboard the outpost. (5min 01sec file)
Expedition 9 commander Gennedy Padalka and flight engineer Mike Fincke talk about life aboard the International Space Station during an in-flight educational event with students at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh. (19min 00sec file)
The International Space Station's Expedition 9 crew hold an educational talk with students and members of the National Guard Bureau in Charleston, West Virginia. (19min 53sec file)