Image: Mercury's double-ring basin Rachmaninoff. Images of this basin are being featured as the planetary geomorphology images of the month on the IAG Web site.

The MESSENGER mission team has recently finished a two-week flight test to ensure that the spacecraft is ready for orbital operations. On 18 March 2011, MESSENGER will become the first spacecraft to enter into orbit about Mercury, embarking on a year-long mission to study the planet. The completion of this test provides a verification of the tools, processes, and procedures that are needed to conduct flight operations at Mercury.

The flight test took place from 17 August to 29 August. In order to force the spacecraft to rotate in space and to gather science data in a manner similar to the operations the probe will experience during the orbital phase of the mission, the ephemerides used on onboard the spacecraft had to be modified in order to “convince the spacecraft that it was in Mercury orbit.” The science team also chose this particular two-week period as the Sun and Earth geometries were similar to those MESSENGER will see during the orbital phase of the mission. Principal Investigator Sean Solomon commented, “Our entire cruise phase and even the three Mercury flybys have only been warm-ups for the main event of our mission. These two weeks of flight tests have been our dress rehearsal, to ensure that our spacecraft and our flight team are ready for opening night.”

For more information on the orbital flight test, click here.