[meteorite-list] MESSENGER Data from Second Full Mercury Solar Day in Orbit Released by Planetary Data System

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2012 12:12:00 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201209111912.q8BJC1Pa016952_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=228

MESSENGER Mission News
September 11, 2012

MESSENGER Data from Second Full Mercury Solar Day in Orbit Released by
Planetary Data System

Late last week, the Planetary Data System (PDS) released data collected
during MESSENGER's seventh through twelfth month in orbit around
Mercury. PDS archives and distributes all of NASA's planetary mission
data. With this release, images and measurements are now available to
the public for the second full Mercury solar day of MESSENGER orbital
operations.

NASA requires that all of its planetary missions archive data in the
PDS, an active archive that makes available well-documented,
peer-reviewed data to the research community. The PDS includes eight
science teams, called discipline nodes, each of which is centered at a
university or research institution and specializes in a specific area of
planetary data. The contributions from these nodes provide a data-rich
source for scientists, researchers, and developers.

In this eighth release of MESSENGER measurements by PDS, calibrated data
from all seven of the mission's science instruments, plus radio science
data from the spacecraft telecommunications system, are included. The
MESSENGER team has created a software tool with which the public can
view data from this delivery. ACT-REACT-QuickMap provides an interactive
Web interface to MESSENGER data. Developed by Applied Coherent
Technology Corporation, the software allows users to examine global
mosaics constructed with high-resolution images from this and previous
PDS deliveries.

The tool also provides weekly updates of coverage for surface-observing
instruments, as well as the status of specially targeted MDIS
observations. Information is also available that can be used to locate
MESSENGER data products at the PDS. QuickMap can be accessed via links
on the MESSENGER websites at http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/ and
http://www.nasa.gov/messenger. The MDIS mosaics can be downloaded from
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/the_mission/mosaics.html.

The data for this release are available online at
http://pds.nasa.gov/subscription_service/SS-20120308.html, and all of
the MESSENGER data archived at the PDS thus far are available at
http://pds.nasa.gov. The team will submit three more data deliveries to
PDS at six-month intervals from MESSENGER's primary orbital mission
and its extended mission.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Software Engineer Relishes Solving Complicated Problems

All Scott Turner wants is a good challenge. Luckily, that's exactly what
the software engineer got when he joined the MESSENGER team 10 years
ago. Read more about Turner's contributions to the MESSENGER mission
here <http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/who_we_are/member_focus.html>.

------------------------------------------------------------------------


MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and
Ranging) is a NASA-sponsored scientific investigation of the planet
Mercury and the first space mission designed to orbit the planet closest
to the Sun. The MESSENGER spacecraft launched on August 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 built and operates
the MESSENGER spacecraft and manages this Discovery-class mission for NASA.
Received on Tue 11 Sep 2012 03:12:00 PM PDT