|
Tuesday, 06 April 2004 19:00 |
The launch of NASA's MESSENGER
spacecraft, a mission to the planet Mercury for which DTM director
Sean Solomon serves as
the principal investigator, has been rescheduled from May to a 15-day
period from July 30 to August 13 of this year. With the new launch
dates the mission
profile has undergone several changes, including the addition
of an Earth flyby and a third Mercury flyby. Further, MESSENGER's
insertion into orbit around Mercury will now take place in March
of 2011 instead of July 2009. The mission's science plan, "to
provide the first images of the entire planet and collect detailed
information on the composition and structure of mercury's crust,
its geological history, the nature of its thin atmosphere and active
magnetosphere, and the makeup of its core and polar materials,"
remains unchanged. The spacecraft will undergo a variety of rigorous
tests before its launch later this summer.
|
