[meteorite-list] MESSENGER Team Delivers First Orbital Data to Planetary Data System

[Ron Baalke]

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=1822

MESSENGER Mission News
September 8, 2011

MESSENGER Team Delivers First Orbital Data to Planetary Data System

Data collected during MESSENGER's first two months in orbit around
Mercury have been released to the public by the Planetary Data System
(PDS), an organization that archives and distributes all of NASA's
planetary mission data. Calibrated data from all seven of MESSENGER's
science instruments, plus radio science data from the spacecraft
telecommunications system, are included in this release.

"It's a real milestone for the first data ever obtained from orbit
around Mercury to be available now in the PDS," says Nancy Chabot,
Instrument Scientist for MESSENGER's Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS).

"Scientists around the world will use these data to better understand
Mercury and the formation and evolution of our solar system as a whole,"
says Chabot, of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
(APL) in Laurel, Md. "However, to me, one of the most exciting aspects
of this release is that these data now in the PDS are just the first of
much more to come. MESSENGER continues to send us new data practically
every day!"

The science results from these instruments have already shed light on
questions about Mercury that have lingered for more than three decades.
Many of these results were highlighted in a June 16 press conference
<http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/presscon9.html> at NASA
headquarters.

For instance, says MESSENGER Project Scientist Ralph McNutt of APL, 'The
imaging has highlighted the importance of volcanism in plains formation
in the planet's history, and the geochemical remote sensing instruments
are providing new insights into formation scenarios for the planet.
Geophysics data are yielding new information on Mercury's internal
structure, and data from the exosphere and magnetosphere instruments are
giving us the first continuous view of Mercury's interaction with its
local space environment.

"The availability of these data via PDS will allow scientists around the
world to study the data and begin making even more connections and
discoveries," McNutt adds.

Since the mid-1990s, NASA has required all of its planetary missions to
archive data in the PDS, an active archive that makes available
well-documented, peer-reviewed data to the research community. The PDS
includes eight university/research center science teams, called
discipline nodes, each of which specializes in a specific area of
planetary data. The contributions from these nodes provide a data-rich
source for scientists, researchers, and developers.

"PDS deliveries are the result of a concerted effort between the
MESSENGER team and the PDS that starts well before the release to the
public," says APL's Susan Ensor, MESSENGER's Science Operations Center
lead. "Approximately 50 MESSENGER team members were actively involved in
making this PDS delivery, including instrument team members, developers
from Applied Coherent Technology Corporation, and Science Operations
Center personnel."

Previous MESSENGER PDS deliveries included data from cruise and flybys
of the Earth, Venus, and Mercury. The data for this delivery are
archived and available online at
http://pds.nasa.gov/subscription_service/SS-20110908.html, and all of
the MESSENGER data archived at the PDS thus far are available at
http://pds.nasa.gov. As of this release, MESSENGER will have delivered
1.1 terabytes of raw and calibrated data to the PDS, including more than
30,000 images (of which over 18,000 are from orbit).

The team will submit three more PDS deliveries at six-month intervals
from MESSENGER's primary mission. "Improved calibrations will be
incorporated in these future deliveries," Ensor says. "Advanced
products, including Mercury maps, will be included in the final primary
mission delivery in March 2013."

The MESSENGER team has created an innovative software tool with which
the public can view data from this delivery. ACT-REACT-Quick Map
provides a simple, interactive Web interface to MESSENGER data.
Developed by Applied Coherent Technology Corporation, Quick Map allows
users to examine global mosaics constructed with high-resolution images
from this PDS delivery.

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 each of the MESSENGER websites at http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/ and
http://www.nasa.gov/messenger.

"The MESSENGER team is delighted to share the orbital observations of
Mercury with the planetary science community and the public," adds
MESSENGER Principal Investigator Sean Solomon, of the Carnegie
Institution of Washington. 'The first global exploration of our solar
system's innermost planet is a wonderful adventure, and there are plenty
of front-row seats for all to participate."

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

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.