MESSENGER has an energetic checkout
Tue Apr 19, 2005 at 20:58 UTC
The team checked and commissioned the Energetic Particle and Plasma Spectrometer (EPPS) instrument over the past week. On April 8 they wrapped up a two-day look at the EPPS Fast Imaging Plasma Spectrometer (FIPS) element, during which they carefully and gradually turned it up to its highest operating voltage. Then the team moved on to a similar test with the EPPS Energetic Particle Spectrometer component, ending it successfully on April 13. The X-Ray Spectrometer underwent a full functional test on April 14.
More activity for FIPS on April 15, observing the solar wind for an hour while spacecraft operators watched MESSENGER's power levels and temperatures around the propellant tanks and rear antenna. Overall the spacecraft is in good health and operating normally.
[Visit http://solar-heliospheric.engin.umich.edu for additional information on the FIPS solar wind observations.]
This month the team also plans to check on the Neutron Spectrometer component of the Gamma-Ray and Neutron Spectrometer instrument, as well as Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer.
MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) is a scientific investigation of the planet Mercury, and the first NASA mission designed to orbit the planet closest to the Sun. The MESSENGER spacecraft launched on Aug. 3, 2004, and after flybys of Earth, Venus and Mercury will start a yearlong study of its target planet in March 2011. Dr. Sean C. Solomon, of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, leads the mission as principal investigator. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, built and operates the MESSENGER spacecraft and manages the Discovery-class mission for NASA.
