Comments on: Venus tosses MESSENGER on its way

By: Troy

Troy — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 23:33:38 +0000

Messenger is totally solar not nuclear and another complication not mentioned is that Mercury orbits pretty far out of the ecliptic, though losing energy is the big one.

By: Mark Martin

Mark Martin — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 00:38:53 +0000

“Can I have some momentum?”

Yes, and you don’t even need a prescription: http://tinyurl.com/2xmps5

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 21:36:26 +0000

So what with taking momentum from Venus to boost probes to the outer solar system and giving it back to go further in, how much do we now owe Venus, or does it owe us?

By: PsyberDave

PsyberDave — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 15:23:55 +0000

Can I have some momentum?

By: MattFunke

MattFunke — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 14:56:31 +0000

Michelle Rochon: “Are they going to take pictures??”

At Venus? Yes. According to the MESSENGER website, over 630 of them. Download begins on the 7th (there’s over a CD-ROM’s worth of data).

By: Gary Ansorge

Gary Ansorge — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 14:38:32 +0000

Is Messenger nuke powered or totally solar?

Eagerly awaiting mercury pics and other instrumental analysis.

Gary 7

By: Ed Davies

Ed Davies — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 11:19:40 +0000

Though it’ll be a while before Messenger orbits Mercury it’s going to do a few close fly-bys well before then.