"The MLA has generated improved polar digital elevation models (DEMs) using the methodology adopted for processing the low-altitude orbits generated in the final year of the MESSENGER mission," noted MLA Instrument Scientist Greg Neumann of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Also provided is documentation of the low-altitude orbit analysis conducted with measurements from the Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA), one of seven science instruments on MESSENGER. Two large mosaics, offered for the first time, feature the Caloris basin and another large impact basin on Mercury. This final data delivery includes 12 new products. NASA awarded the mission a one-year extension so that the MESSENGER team could provide an additional set of data products - some new and some enhancements of previously delivered products - anticipated to be of high scientific value to the community. A final one-month campaign concluded with the impact of the MESSENGER spacecraft, as planned, onto the surface of Mercury on April 30, 2015.įollowing impact, a one-year period of data analysis and archiving concluded with MESSENGER release 15 by PDS on May 6, 2016. The primary orbital phase lasted one Earth-year and was followed by a one-year first extended mission, completed on March 17, 2013, and an additional two-year second extended mission, completed on March 28, 2015. This release, which includes the redelivery of a subset of previously delivered products as well as new products created from data acquired through the end of Mercury orbital operations on April 30, 2015, is the final one for the MESSENGER project, which ends on May 31.Īfter a 6.6-year interplanetary cruise phase, during which the spacecraft flew by Earth once, Venus twice, and Mercury three times, MESSENGER was inserted into orbit about Mercury on Ma(UTC), becoming the first spacecraft ever to orbit the innermost planet. With this 16th data release, the MESSENGER mission has shared more than 10 terabytes of Mercury science data, including nearly 300,000 images, millions of spectra, and numerous map products, along with interactive tools that allow the public to explore those data, notes Susan Ensor, who for the last decade has managed the MESSENGER Science Operations Center, which oversees the preparation of these data.
#Messenger quickmap update#
This update was among the new and improved products released by the agency's Planetary Data System (PDS), an organization that archives and distributes all U.S. NASA's MESSENGER mission to Mercury has released an updated ACT-QuickMap tool with new 3D navigation capabilities as illustrated by this "fly around" view of the Caloris impact basin.
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