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Radar Imaging of Mercury
Earth-based radar has been one of the few, and one of the most important, sources of new information about Mercury during the three decades since...
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Updates to the MSFC Meteoroid Stream Model
The Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Meteoroid Stream Model simulates particle ejection and subsequent evolution from comets in order to provide...
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Interplanetary Dust and Meteors
Along the plane of the Milky Way Galaxy are thousands of enormous massive clouds of gas and dust. Typically 10–50 parsecs across, they are dark...
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Science, Technology, and Mission Design for the Laser Astrometric Test of Relativity
The Laser Astrometric Test of Relativity (LATOR) is a Michelson– Morley type experiment designed to test the metric nature of gravitation – a...
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Launch and Early Operation of the MESSENGER Mission
On August 3, 2004, at 2:15 a.m. EST, the MESSENGER mission to Mercury began with liftoff of the Delta II 7925H launch vehicle and 1,107-kg...
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A spurious but persistent satellite
Lambert’s memoir on the satellite of Venus was for a long time the last serious study of the subject. By the 1780s the satellite was on its way out...
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The Non-Gravitational Perturbations impact on the BepiColombo Radio Science Experiment and the key rôle of the ISA accelerometer: direct solar radiation and albedo effects
The paper is focused on the estimate of the impact of the non-gravitational perturbations on the orbit of the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO), one of...
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ISA accelerometer onboard the Mercury Planetary Orbiter: error budget
We have estimated a preliminary error budget for the Italian Spring Accelerometer (ISA) that will be allocated onboard the Mercury Planetary Orbiter...
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MESSENGER Mission Overview
Abstract The MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft, launched on August 3, 2004, is nearing the halfway...
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Dynamic Planet Mercury in the Context of its Environment
UNDERSTANDING THE PLANET MERCURY Thirty years have elapsed since the one and only mission to Mercury, Mariner 10, performed three ?ybys of the...
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General Theory of Relativity: Will It Survive the Next Decade?
The nature of gravity is fundamental to the understanding of our own solar system, the galaxy, and the structure and evolution of the Universe....
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The MESSENGER Science Operations Center
The MESSENGER Science Operations Center (SOC) is an integrated set of subsystems and personnel whose purpose is to obtain, provide, and preserve the...
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Planetary Magnetospheres
The study of planetary magnetospheres began almost a half century ago with the launch of Sputnik and Explorer 1, the first artificial satellites of...
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Mercury’ Exosphere
An exosphere is an ensemble of atoms or molecules above a planet’ surface or atmosphere for which the mean free path is greater than the scale height...
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The Future of Mercury Exploration
Recent experience at Mars (Acuna et al, 1998) illustrates the potential complexity and variety of planetary interiors and magnetic fields. Thus every...
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Past and Planned Missions to Mercury
Although acquiring ground-based astronomical observations of Mercury is difficult, visiting the planet via spacecraft to acquire observations in-situ...
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A General Strategy for Physics-Based Model Validation Illustrated with Earthquake Phenomenology, Atmospheric Radiative Transfer, and Computational Fluid Dynamics
Validation is often defined as the process of determining the degree to which a model is an accurate representation of the real world from the...
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The Radio Frequency Subsystem and Radio Science on the MESSENGER Mission
The MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) Radio Frequency (RF) Telecommunications Subsystem is used to send...
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Mercury From a Systems Perspective
Less is known about Mercury than about any other inner planet because it is a more challenging target in so many respects. Before 1974, studies of...