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MESSENGER was a NASA robotic space probe that orbited the planet Mercury between 2011 and 2015, studying Mercury's chemical composition, geology, and magnetic field. [9] [10] The name is a backronym for Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging, and a reference to the messenger god Mercury from Roman mythology.
This would allow the spacecraft to meet Mercury on three occasions in 1974 and 1975. Mariner 10 was the first mission to use a gravity assist from one planet (in this case, Venus) to reach another planet. [a] It used Venus to bend its flight path and bring its perihelion down to the level of Mercury's orbit.
The MESSENGER spacecraft was expected to make more than 500 million measurements of Mercury's magnetic field using its sensitive magnetometer. [19] During its first 88 days in orbit around Mercury, MESSENGER made six different sets of magnetic field measurements as it passed through Mercury's magnetopause. [27]
The exploration of Mercury has a minor role in the space interests of the world. It is the least explored inner planet. [1] As of 2015, the Mariner 10 and MESSENGER missions have been the only missions that have made close observations of Mercury. MESSENGER made three flybys before entering orbit around Mercury. [2]
During its second flyby of the planet on October 6, 2008, MESSENGER discovered that Mercury's magnetic field can be extremely "leaky". The spacecraft encountered magnetic "tornadoes"—twisted bundles of magnetic fields connecting the planetary magnetic field to interplanetary space—that were up to 800 km wide or a third of the radius of the ...
In an April Fools' Day joke in 2012, NASA announced that the MESSENGER spacecraft supposedly discovered a moon in orbit around Mercury, which they named jokingly Caduceus, in reference to the caduceus, the staff carried by the Roman god Mercury. [7]
Launch of Mariner 1 in 1962. The Mariner program was conducted by the American space agency NASA to explore other planets.Between 1962 and late 1973, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) designed and built 10 robotic interplanetary probes named Mariner to explore the inner Solar System – visiting the planets Venus, Mars and Mercury for the first time, and returning to Venus and Mars for ...
BepiColombo is a joint mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to the planet Mercury. [4] The mission comprises two satellites launched together: the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and Mio (Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, MMO). [5]