Mission Basics
What planet did the MESSENGER mission study?
Mercury
What type of spacecraft was MESSENGER?
Orbiter
How many total gravity assists did MESSENGER use to reach Mercury?
Six. One from Earth, two from Venus, and three from Mercury.
What is Mercury’s core mostly made of?
Iron — it makes up about 85% of Mercury’s radius
What year did MESSENGER launch?
2004
What protected MESSENGER from the Sun’s heat?
A ceramic-cloth sunshade
Why did MESSENGER need to use gravity assists instead of flying straight to Mercury?
To slow down enough to enter orbit around Mercury while saving fuel — the Sun’s gravity makes direct approaches too fast.
What did MESSENGER find at Mercury’s poles?
Water ice in permanently shadowed craters
Which organizations managed the mission?
NASA and Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL)
What did MESSENGER use for power
Two solar panel arrays
In what year did MESSENGER arrive in Mercury’s orbit?
2011
What geological feature shows Mercury is shrinking?
Long cliff-like landforms called lobate scarps
When and how did MESSENGER’s mission end?
It purposely crashed into Mercury’s surface on April 30, 2015 after running out of fuel
What rocket launched MESSENGER into space?
Delta 7925H rocket
Explain the biggest challenge of traveling to Mercury and how engineers solved it.
The intense heat near the Sun threatened to destroy the spacecraft; engineers used a ceramic-cloth sunshade and angled solar panels to keep instruments cool.
How much has Mercury shrunk, according to MESSENGER in miles?
About 4.4 miles in diameter