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Space Topics: MESSENGER

Data from MESSENGER's Cameras

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Unlike most other current NASA missions, the MESSENGER mission has elected not to make raw images available via the Internet soon after their acquisition. Some images are being released, but for the bulk of the data, the public must wait until the mission's required releases to NASA's Planetary Data System (PDS). Scheduled release dates are:

Data from the Earth-Moon and Venus flybys were released on January 13, 2008 (although the scheduled release date was December 7, 2007).
Data from Mercury flybys 1 and 2 are scheduled for release six months after Mercury flyby 2, on April 16, 2009.
Data from Mercury flyby 3 is scheduled for release 6 months after the flyby, on March 29, 2010.
Data from the Mercury orbit phase of the mission is schedule for release 6 months after the end of the nominal mission, on September 18, 2012.

Data from the Earth-Moon Flyby

MESSENGER flew by Earth and the Moon on August 2, 2005. On approach, MESSENGER captured long-distance views of Earth and the Moon in the same frame and some 11-color images of Earth. On departure, there was one more set of 11-color images of Earth, followed by the shooting of a three-color (RGB) movie of Earth's receding crescent, comprising 362 frames, one frame for every four minutes over 24 hours from August 22 at 22:27 to August 3 at 22:28.

Data from the Venus flybys

Due to the unfavorable position of the Sun, MESSENGER was unable to capture any images during the first Venus flyby on October 24, 2006. The second flyby was much more productive, with the MDIS team testing out many sequences for capturing mosaics and performing photometry that they planned to use later, during the upcoming Mercury flybys. In addition, there was a three-color departure movie using ultraviolet and infrared filters, with 150 frames captured every 20 minutes over the first 12 hours and every hour over the next 14 hours hours from June 6 at 00:58 to June 7 at 02:18.