Quick Facts
The Science and Goal
MESSENGER is a scientific investigation of the planet Mercury, the least explored terrestrial planet. Understanding Mercury and how it was formed is essential to understanding the other terrestrial planets and their evolution. Mercury has been visited by only one other spacecraft, Mariner 10, so we know little more than its average density (the second greatest of all the planets), the composition of its atmosphere (thinnest of the terrestrial planets), the fact that it possesses a global magnetic field, and its extreme variations in temperature. MESSENGER will serve to lift some of the uncertainty about this innermost planet of our solar system.
The MESSENGER mission will orbit Mercury after making three flybys of the planet, using data collected during the flybys as an initial guide to perform a more focused scientific investigation of this mysterious world. MESSENGER will investigate six key scientific questions about Mercury's characteristics and environment with a set of miniaturized space instruments. The spacecraft will enter Mercury orbit in March 2011 and carry out comprehensive measurements for one full Earth year.
(taken from http://btc.montana.edu/messenger/mission/mission_index.php)
LASP developed and built the Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer (MASCS) instrument onboard MESSENGER. MASCS is designed to detect minerals on Mercury’s surface, and determine the abundance and components of its thin atmosphere. Data from MASCS will help answer the questions: What is Mercury’s surface made out of? How is Mercury’s atmosphere generated? Does Mercury have ice at its poles?
Combining an ultraviolet spectrometer and infrared spectrograph, MASCS will measure the abundance of atmospheric gases around Mercury and detect minerals in its surface materials.
The Ultraviolet and Visible Spectrometer (UVVS) will determine the composition and structure of Mercury’s exosphere – the extremely low-density atmosphere – and study its neutral gas emissions. It will also search for and measure ionized atmospheric species. Together these measurements will help researchers understand the processes that generate and maintain the atmosphere, the connection between surface and atmospheric composition, the dynamics of volatile materials on and near Mercury, and the nature of the radar-reflective materials near the planet’s poles. The instrument has 25-kilometer altitude resolution at the planet’s limb.
Perched atop the ultraviolet spectrometer, the Visible and Infrared Spectrograph (VIRS) will measure the reflected visible and near-infrared light at wavelengths diagnostic of iron and titanium-bearing silicate materials on the surface, such as pyroxene, olivine, and ilmenite. The sensor’s best resolution is 3 kilometers at Mercury’s surface.
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