MESSENGER update from Emily

I just heard from Emily at the Planetary Society Blog that due to a problem with the Ulysses solar-observing spacecraft, the downloading of images of Mercury from MESSENGER will almost certainly be delayed until tomorrow, Wednesday. They might download a single image tonight, but that’s iffy.

Emily has details, as usual.

January 15th, 2008 1:59 PM by Phil Plait in Astronomy, NASA | 10 comments | RSS feed | Trackback >

10 Responses to “MESSENGER update from Emily”

1. DarkSyde Says:
January 15th, 2008 at 2:17 pm

I gotta figure that’s some semi-major [Bad Word deleted by The Bad Astronomer] up on Ulysses to risk that image data. What a drag.
2. Ken B Says:
January 15th, 2008 at 2:31 pm

Don’t buy the “we had a problem with another craft” story. The real problem was that NASA’s art department hasn’t finished their fake “images of Mercury” portfolio on time, and they needed another day.

Just in case:
3. Evolving Squid Says:
January 15th, 2008 at 2:36 pm

The images are being sent to Industrial Light and Magic for colourization.
4. blizno Says:
January 15th, 2008 at 2:47 pm

The delay is because there were lots more ancient ruins on Mercury than NASA expected and they’re hustling to cover them up before the images go public.

http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=40929
5. Troy Says:
January 15th, 2008 at 4:37 pm

I’m surprised Ulysses is still going. Very much like the trials and tribulations of the hero.
6. AJ Milne Says:
January 15th, 2008 at 7:01 pm

There’s an image up now. See http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/messenger/main/index.html.
7. AJ Milne Says:
January 15th, 2008 at 7:01 pm

Dammit. Broken link.

Image itself is directly at http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/208455main_messenger_mercury_lg.jpg
8. AJ Milne Says:
January 15th, 2008 at 7:14 pm

Fixed link for mission page:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/messenger/main/index.html
9. Raymond Says:
January 15th, 2008 at 7:47 pm

“Whats worth having, is worth waiting for”

I have viewed the first image already with that old fashioned sense of awe that used to happen with Pioneer, Voyager, etc. etc…

It is hard to imagine a traffic jam caused by those deep space probe extraterrestrial signals looking for a parking space on a terrestrial dish. What ever happed to reservations in advance.

Thanks for the heads up on the down link status of Messenger.
10. DavidHW Says:
January 15th, 2008 at 8:06 pm

Oh, Lord. There’s a vaguely hexagonal area in the upper right of that photo. See it? Hoagland will be on CtC tonight for sure.

About Bad Astronomy

Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, is an astronomer, lecturer, and author. After ten years working on Hubble Space Telescope and six more working on astronomy education, he struck out on his own as a writer. He's written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles. He is a skeptic and fights the abuse of science, but his true love is praising the wonders of real science.

The original BA site (with the Moon Hoax debunking, movie reviews, and all that) can be found here.

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