PLANETARY MUSINGS

Venus Flyby 2

Late in the afternoon on Tuesday, June 5, 2007 the MESSENGER spacecraft is going to slingshot around Venus for the second time on it way to Mercury. The spacecraft will use Venus' gravity to assist in its journey to the solar system's inner most planet. During the first flyby of Venus last October the planet was on the far side of Sun from Earth (solar conjunction) and communication with the spacecraft was difficult at best, so no scientific data were taken, and MESSENGER flew by in a safe configuration with a closest approach of nearly 3000 km. On Tuesday the spacecraft will flyby as close as about 340 km and will be taking data this time with most of its instruments. The instruments onboard MESSENGER are optimized for surveying Mercury, however several are capable of taking important observations of Venus, particularly its atmosphere. It is also a great "dress rehearsal" for our first flyby of Mercury on January 14, 2008. There should be some exciting data from our sister planet coming down from MESSENGER in the next several weeks after the flyby. Several of these data will be compared with coordinated observations by ESA's Venus Express. We will be looking forward to some interesting new results in the coming months...