Posted on by Ken Kremer

MESSENGER Unveiling Mercurys Hidden Secrets

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NASA’s MESSENGER probe to Mercury, the scorched, innermost planet of our solar system, is sending back so much startling and revolutionary data and crystal clear images that the results are forcing scientists to toss out previously cherished theories and formulate new ones even as the results continues to pour in. And the mission has barely begun to explore Mercury’s inner secrets, exterior surface and atmospheric environment.

MESSENGER became the first spacecraft ever to orbit planet Mercury on March 18, 2011 and has just completed the first quarter of its planned one year long mission – that’s the equivalent of one Mercury year.

MESSENGER has collected a treasure trove of new data from the seven instruments onboard yielding a scientific bonanza; these include extensive global imagery, measurements of the planet’s surface chemical composition, topographic evidence for significant amounts of water ice, magnetic field and interactions with the solar wind, reported the science team at a press conference at NASA Headquarters.

Schematic illustration of the operation of MESSENGER's X-ray Spectrometer (XRS). When X-rays emitted from the Sun’s corona strike the planet, they can induce X-ray fluorescence from atoms at the surface. Detection of these fluorescent X-rays by the XRS allows determination of the surface chemical composition. Credit: NASA/The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

“We are delighted to share the findings of the first 25% of our year long mission,” said MESSENGER principal investigator Sean Solomon of the Carnegie Institution of Washington at a press briefing for reporters. “We receive new data back almost every day.”

“MESSENGER has snapped over 20,000 images to date,” said Solomon, at up to 10 meters per pixel. The probe has also taken over two million laser-ranging topographic observations, discovered vast volcanic plains, measured the abundances of many key elements and confirmed that bursts of energetic particles in Mercury’s magnetosphere result from the interaction of the planets magnetic field with the solar wind.

“We are assembling a global overview of the nature and workings of Mercury for the first time.”

“We had many ideas about Mercury that were incomplete or ill-formed, from earlier flyby data,” explained Solomon. “Many of our older theories are being cast aside into the dust bin as new observations from new orbital data lead to new insights. Our primary mission has another three Mercury years to run, and we can expect more surprises as our solar system’s innermost planet reveals its long-held secrets.”

Magnetic field lines differ at Mercury's north and south poles As a result of the north-south asymmetry in Mercury's internal magnetic field, the geometry of magnetic field lines is different in Mercury's north and south polar regions. In particular, the magnetic "polar cap" where field lines are open to the interplanetary medium is much larger near the south pole. This geometry implies that the south polar region is much more exposed than in the north to charged particles heated and accelerated by solar wind–magnetosphere interactions. The impact of those charged particles onto Mercury's surface contributes both to the generation of the planet's tenuous atmosphere and to the "space weathering" of surface materials, both of which should have a north-south asymmetry given the different magnetic field configurations at the two poles. Image Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

NASA’s Mariner 10 was the only previous robotic probe to explore Mercury, during three flyby’s back in the mid-1970’s early in the space age.

MESSENGER was launched in 2004 and the mission goal is to produce the first global scientific observations of Mercury and piece together the puzzle of how Mercury fits in with the origin and evolution of our solar system.

There was very little prior imaging coverage of Mercury’s northern polar region.

“We’ve now filled in many of the gaps,” said Messenger scientist Brett Denevi of Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). “We now see large smooth plains that are thought to be volcanic in origin.”

“Now we’re seeing for the first time their full extent, which is around 4 million square kilometers (1.54 million square miles). That’s about half the size of the continental United States.”

MESSENGER is currently filling in coverage of Mercury’s north polar region, which was seen only partially during the Mariner 10 and MESSENGER flybys. Flyby images indicated that smooth plains were likely important in Mercury’s northernmost regions. MESSENGER's orbital images show that the plains are among the largest expanses of volcanic deposits on Mercury, with thicknesses of several kilometers in many places. The estimated extent of these plains is outlined in yellow. This mosaic is a combination of flyby and orbital coverage in a polar stereographic projection showing latitudes from 50° to 90° N. The longitude at the 6 o'clock position is 0°. Credit: NASA/The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

“We see all kinds of evidence for volcanism and tectonic deformation of the plains from orbit where we can look straight down,” added Denevi. “In the new images we see ghost craters from pre-existing impact craters that were later covered over by lava.’

Color images of the whole planet – with a resolution of about 1 kilometer per pixel – tell the researchers about the chemical composition and rock types on Mercury’s surface.

“We don’t know the composition yet.”

“We are very excited to study these huge volcanic deposits near the north pole with the implications for the evolution of Mercury’s crust and how it formed,” said Denevi.

“Targeted new high resolution imaging is helping us see landforms unlike anything we’ve seen before on Mercury or the moon.”

MESSENGER’s orbital images have been overlaid on an image from the second flyby shown in Image 1.2a. Even for previously imaged portions of the surface, orbital observations reveal a new level of detail. This region is part of the extensive northern plains, and evidence for a volcanic origin can now be seen. Several examples of “ghost” craters, preexisting craters that were buried by the emplacement of the plains, are seen near the center of the mosaic. Credit: NASA/The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

Determining whether Mercury harbors caches of polar water ice is another one of the many questions the MESSENGER science team hopes to answer.

Two decades ago, Earth-based radar images showed deposits thought to consist of water ice near Mercury’s north and south poles. Researchers postulated a theory that these icy deposits are preserved on the cold, permanently shadowed floors of high-latitude impact craters, similar to those on Earth’s moon.

Early results from topographic measurements are promising.

“The very first scientific test of that hypothesis using Messenger data from orbit has passed with flying colors.”

“The area of possible polar water ice is quite a bit larger than on the moon,” said Solomon. “Its probably meters or more in depth based on radar measurements.”

“And we may have the irony that the planet closest to the sun may have more water ice at its poles than even our own moon.”

“Stay tuned. As this mission evolves, we will be relying on the geochemical and remote sensing instruments which take time to collect observations. The neutron and gamma ray spectrometers have the ability to tell us the identity of these icy materials,” said Solomon.

The same scene as that in Image 1.3a is shown after the application of a statistical method that highlights differences among the eight color filters, making variations in color and composition easier to discern. Credit: NASA/The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
This topographic contour map was constructed from the several MLA profiles (lines of white circles) that pass through and near the crater circled in Image 3.4. The color scale at right is in km, and north is at the 4 o’clock position. Calculations show that the topography of the crater is consistent with the prediction that the southernmost portion of the crater floor is in permanent shadow. Credit: NASA/The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
A cross-section of Mercury’s magnetosphere (in the noon-midnight plane, i.e., the plane containing the planet-Sun line and Mercury’s spin axis) provides context for the energetic electron events observed to date with the MESSENGER XRS and GRS high-purity germanium (HpGe) detectors. The Sun is toward the right; dark yellow lines indicate representative magnetic field lines. Blue and green lines trace the regions along MESSENGER's orbit from April 2 to April 10 during which energetic electrons were detected and MESSENGER's orbit was within ± 5° of the noon-midnight plane. The presence of events on the dayside, their lack in the southern hemisphere, and their frequency of occurrence at middle northern latitudes over all longitudes point to a more complex picture of magnetospheric activity than found at Earth. Credit: NASA/The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

6 Replies to “MESSENGER Unveiling Mercurys Hidden Secrets”

  1. Yo Ken, “Mercurys” in the title has a missing possessive apostrophe.

      1. Yeah, get a life and find a wife, and then end up with trouble and strife(?)!

      2. There once was a UT commenter Ivan
        Who felt that life as a fr33 man
        was wifeless
        and strife-less,
        not quite the he-man!?

        [Apologies, but that was how the rhyme came out! … I know, a bad excuse. :-/]

      3. Torbjörn, we are not amused! Anyway, being married is no guarantee that a man is a ‘he-man‘ (note the skeptical quotes).

      4. He. As I implied, a random rhyme.

        But one guess who dragged marriage, and its characteristics, into this? =D

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