Messenger

The MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER)

ESA’s Venus Express and NASA’s MESSENGER booked an appointment at Venus late in the evening of 5 June, to look at the oddities of this mysterious planet in tandem for a few hours. Just a few MESSENGER Bids Farewell to VenusESA’s Venus Express and NASA’s MESSENGER booked an appointment at Venus late in the evening of 5 June, to look at the oddities of this mysterious planet in tandem for a few hours. Just a few weeks on, scientists from both teams are ready to present a first set of images.

Image above: As NASA’s MESSENGER departed from Venus on 5 June 2007 to continue its journey towards Mercury, its Wide Angle Camera captured a sequence of 50 images (480-nm wavelength filter) showing the planet disappearing in the distance. Initially, images were acquired at a rate of one of every 20 minutes and then, with increasing distance, the timing interval was increased to 60 minutes. Click image to view movie. Credit: NASA/APLweeks on, scientists from both teams are ready to present a first set of images.

This unique opportunity to make multi-point observations of the Venusian atmosphere was possible thanks to the MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, Geochemistry, and Ranging) swingby of Venus – a key step during its long journey to Mercury - while Venus Express was already orbiting the planet in the course of its mission.