[meteorite-list] Meteorite Picture of the Day
Today's Meteorite Picture of the Day: NWA 2824 TS Contributed by: John Kashuba http://www.tucsonmeteorites.com/mpodmain.asp __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Beautiful Bright Slow Fireball Brazil 22OCT2014
List, Beautiful Bright Slow Fireball Brazil 22OCT2014 http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.jp/2014/10/brazil-fireball-meteor-22oct2014.html Dirk Ross...Tokyo __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] AD: 5 kg NWA, Chelyabinsk, Agoudal etched nice, Tirhert, many rare TS: Allende, Chely, NWA6827 CO3, etc
Dear List Members! *** FOR SALE with price reducing *** Ending on Weekend some my auctions on E-Bay Introducing a big MONSTER unclassified chondrite 4838 gr (180x154x110 mm) for 1899USD - very cheap, may last price BIG regmalypts, nice shape, fresh meteorite from Morocco. There is a fine Centerpiece in any Meteorite Collection! There is a probable H chondrite. Ultimate Chelyabinsk Collector SET Chelyabinsk LL5 BIG slice+authentic broken glass sample+authentic soil sample with GPS Coordinates My last SET available - 108.80USD (Big endcut!!!) AGODAL IIAB etched end-cuts wiht very Hard Neumann-lines, MULTI COLOR surface pattern - from 29USD, UNIQUE Pattern TIRHERT fresh fall Eucrite from Morocco with authentic Sahara Sand sample of fallen area (Guelmim-Es- Semara) in Vial Glass - just 59USD CSÁTALJA H4 S2/4 W1 newest hungarian chondrite pieces (soon publish in MetBull 103) very limited material 0.5gr-3.5gr slices (from 45USD/set to 280USD) very limited materiel - No in market!!! Interest in PM please! CSÁTALJA H4 Thin Sections 150USD/TS just in PM. *** THIN SECTION PRICE REDUCING!!! *** Ending on Weekend. NEW! Allende CV3, Mexico, 1969 - very cheap - for 59 USd NWA 6827 CO3 (awsome chondrulas), Morocco, 2008 - for 59 USD Korra Korrabe H3 from Gibeon strew-filed, Namibia, awsome chondrulas - for 49 USD Chelyabinsk LL5 Thin Sections (my last one) with impact melt zones, ring shape chondrula - AWSOME just for 59 USD VERY RARE!!! HISTORIC old Hungary Mezö-Madaras L3.7 from 1852 for JUST 149USD IMPACTITES - very cheap VREDEFORT IMB Impactite - with broken zones and melted zones - UNIQUE - for 35 USD Azuara, Spain Suvasvesi-S - for 25 USD Finland - rare - for 25 USD IPhone 5/5S plastic cases with meteorite themes metal-backplate (Themes: Fukang pallasite, Widmanstatten pattern, NWA6263 CV3 cross-polarized image - Stunning) - 36USD Meteorite Collector Box holders - 2 rows for BIG and 3 rows for Medium Boxes (acryllic, plastic) - 42USD/pair Slice holders with Neodymium magnet - 21USD/3pcs If you interest these specimens see here on my E-Bay site: http://www.ebay.com/usr/cbo891 Zsolt Kereszty Hungary IMCA#6251 __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Re: [meteorite-list] [off-list] Ebay Again!
Mike, I like your post here. But, I thought I could trust The fake Count and I was totally screwed by him ( everything on his website was bought and paid for including the history and pictures) . I thought I could trust Catterton and as it turned out he too screwed me. He accused me of supplying bad material when all along it was not the material I supplied that was not as advertised. It was some bogus stone he said came from me in order to add credibility to his sales. He assumed nobody would question material if he said it came from me. I mean I attend the Gem show every day and visit everyone. Everyone knows me and sees me daily. But, he did hurt my reputation for a while. I sent you a facebook private post I will copy to you here. You are always very kind to post the new classifications on the list and elsewhere. The question I have is why do you seem to miss the ones by Sean Tutorow? I ask because he is looking for dealers to sell his material all over the country and it seems to me you'd be a perfect fit. He recently had around 30 approvals. He is the king of classifications. Thanks. Carl -- Love Life Galactic Stone Ironworks via Meteorite-list meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com wrote: No, you did not question my material specifically, but you painted a non-flattering picture in very broad strokes. I am sure the unspoken implication was there, as you have gone on the record in the past as not being a fan of me, my crumbs, my coupon codes, and my ads. Personally, I have never had an issue with you. We have never had any dealings, good or bad. We just seem to cross wires on the List from time to time. If I feel a need to test a specimen, then I don't buy it. If I don't trust my source well enough to take their specimen at face value, then I don't want it. I assume many buyers feel the same way, dealer or collector. There are some sellers out there (some on eBay), that I wouldn't buy from if they were the last meteorite dealer on Earth. Not because they have passed off bogus crumbs, but because they have passed off bogus whole stones or larger fakes. There are not many dealers who test every stone of every batch of material they buy. Some do. Many do not. How many dealers buy a few kilos of NWA 869 from Morocco and then submit samples of that material for testing before reselling it? Ditto for almost any such material on the market. Chergach? Prove it. Bassi? Prove it. Oum Dreyga? Prove it. Zag? El Hammami? Ash Creek? Buzzard Coulee? If I spend $5 on a crumb and it turns out to be driveway dirt, then I got burned. If I paid $100 or $500 or $5000 for a specimen for North American fall and it turns out to be a North African find, then I am sorry as hell. Who is selling fake crumbs besides one or two clowns on eBay? There are some bogus planetary displays going around and we are well aware of them - their identities have been exposed due to diligence from the community. Are there others who are operating in such numbers and volume that they threaten the integrity of the collector's market and the viability of research collections? Does NASA or ASU have some NWA in their cabinets masquerading as Tagish Lake? Did someone slip some Jbilet Winselwan into the Murchison jar? I hear a lot of things. I hear stuff about shady deals and shady operators. And I haven't heard jack about anyone dealing in bogus crumbs. It sounds like fear-mongering to me. The IMCA has enough to worry about without taking on the responsibility for policing the market's Bessey Specks. That's it, I think we should blame Dean. It's all his fault. LOL. ;) I collect crumbs. I have more crumbs than Pepperidge Farm. If people want genuine crumbs that are what the label says they are, they can come to me. There are a few more crumb-mongers who are legit. I won't name names, but they are probably reading this with interest, because that picture you painted includes them also - not by name, but by implication. That's all. This is silly. I'll shut up. -- - Web - http://www.galactic-stone.com Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/galacticstone Twitter - http://twitter.com/galacticstone Pinterest - http://pinterest.com/galacticstone - On 10/23/14, bill kies parkforest...@hotmail.com wrote: First, I didn't question your material. I question crumbs in general. Second, it shouldn't be the responsibility of the buyer to try and find a lab that would be willing to examine crumbs. Crumb sellers know this. So, I think it's time for someone to take this task seriously and look at these endless micros. IMCA maybe? I see your footnote about hate. What is that about? Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 20:32:02 -0400 To:
[meteorite-list] Chinese Probe Launched on Round-Trip Flight To The Moon
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1410/23change5t1/ Chinese probe launched on round-trip flight to the moon BY STEPHEN CLARK SPACEFLIGHT NOW October 23, 2014 China launched a demonstrator probe Thursday on a round-trip flight around the moon to test out a heat shield and landing capsule planned for use on a lunar sample return mission in 2017. The unmanned spacecraft blasted off on top of a Long March 3C rocket from the Xichang space center in southwest China's Sichuan province, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Xinhua's report did not disclose the launch time, but imagery captured inside a Chinese mission control center indicated the launch occurred at 1800 GMT (2 p.m. EDT) Thursday, or 2 a.m. Beijing time Friday. Boosted by a pair of strap-on liquid-fueled engines, the 18-story-tall Long March 3C launcher dispatched the lunar test probe on an orbit soaring 413,000 kilometers, or 256,000 miles, from Earth, according to Xinhua. State media reported the spacecraft separated from the upper stage of the Long March rocket as planned, citing China's State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense. The test flight is a precursor to China's Chang'e 5 lunar sample return mission. Unofficially called Chang'e 5 T1, the demonstrator will swing around the far side of the moon, using lunar gravity to slingshot the craft back to Earth. Designed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the probe is on track for a lunar flyby Monday, with the flight expected to conclude with a high-speed re-entry back into Earth's atmosphere Oct. 31, U.S. time. Speeding toward Earth at nearly 7 miles per second, or roughly 25,000 mph, the re-entry capsule will dip into the atmosphere multiple times to slow the craft down before landing in China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region. Such re-entry velocities are faster than Chinese astronauts experience when returning from orbit several hundred miles above Earth. The skip re-entry will help diminish heat the landing capsule will encounter during descent, experts told the China Daily newspaper. The re-entry capsule land under parachute for retrieval by Chinese space officials. The mission is to obtain experimental data and validate re-entry technologies such as guidance, navigation and control, heat shield and trajectory design for a future touchdown on the moon by Chang'e-5, which is expected to be sent to the moon, collect samples and return to Earth in 2017, Xinhua reported. If successful, the round-trip test flight will precede the start of the third phase of China's lunar exploration program, officials said. China launched two orbiters around the moon -- Chang'e 1 and Chang'e 2 -- in 2007 and 2010 to survey the lunar surface. The Chang'e 3 lunar probe landed Dec. 14, 2013, making China the third country to achieve a soft landing on the moon after the United States and the former Soviet Union. Chang'e 3 deployed a small rover named Yutu, which drove away from the mission's stationary landing platform, collecting images, studying the composition of the moon's soil and rocks, and probing the moon's underground structure with a ground-penetrating radar. Chinese officials said Yutu suffered a glitch in a control system in January, rendering the rover immobile and exposed to cold temperatures during lunar nights, which last two weeks. Earlier this month, Xinhua reported the Yutu rover was losing functionality but still alive after nearly 10 months on the moon, surpassing the craft's original design lifetime of three months. Yutu has gone through freezing lunar nights under abnormal status, and its functions are gradually degrading, said Yu Dengyun, chief designer of China's lunar probe mission, in a report by Xinhua. We hoped the moon rover would go farther, and we really want to find the true reason why it didn't, Yu told Xinhua in an interview. China developed a backup mission for the Chang'e 3 lunar lander. The backup spacecraft, named Chang'e 4, will now help prove systems required for the more ambitious Chang'e 5 mission, Xinhua reported. Details on the specific objectives and planned launch date for Chang'e 4 have not been released by China. The Chang'e 5 mission will follow with launch in 2017 to scoop up lunar soil and return it to Earth. China also has plans for a Chang'e 6 sample return mission some time before 2020. China is studying sending astronauts on lunar missions after scouting the moon with robotic spacecraft, according to official media reports. Near-term plans for China's human space program are focused on constructing a space station in low Earth orbit. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Re: [meteorite-list] Ebay Again!
Well said, Mike. Is it true that Pepperidge Farm is hereby suspending all future crumb sales to you...?! Best, Daniel Daniel Noyes Genuine Moon Mars Meteorite Rocks i...@moonmarsrocks.com www.moonmarsrocks.com -- Original message: Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 21:46:12 -0400 From: Galactic Stone Ironworks meteoritem...@gmail.com To: meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Ebay Again! Message-ID: CAKBPJW-=dzogcz8d8hoay9ykbbw1r4ndhf+7nkw5kqidnjt...@mail.gmail.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 No, you did not question my material specifically, but you painted a non-flattering picture in very broad strokes. I am sure the unspoken implication was there, as you have gone on the record in the past as not being a fan of me, my crumbs, my coupon codes, and my ads. Personally, I have never had an issue with you. We have never had any dealings, good or bad. We just seem to cross wires on the List from time to time. If I feel a need to test a specimen, then I don't buy it. If I don't trust my source well enough to take their specimen at face value, then I don't want it. I assume many buyers feel the same way, dealer or collector. There are some sellers out there (some on eBay), that I wouldn't buy from if they were the last meteorite dealer on Earth. Not because they have passed off bogus crumbs, but because they have passed off bogus whole stones or larger fakes. There are not many dealers who test every stone of every batch of material they buy. Some do. Many do not. How many dealers buy a few kilos of NWA 869 from Morocco and then submit samples of that material for testing before reselling it? Ditto for almost any such material on the market. Chergach? Prove it. Bassi? Prove it. Oum Dreyga? Prove it. Zag? El Hammami? Ash Creek? Buzzard Coulee? If I spend $5 on a crumb and it turns out to be driveway dirt, then I got burned. If I paid $100 or $500 or $5000 for a specimen for North American fall and it turns out to be a North African find, then I am sorry as hell. Who is selling fake crumbs besides one or two clowns on eBay? There are some bogus planetary displays going around and we are well aware of them - their identities have been exposed due to diligence from the community. Are there others who are operating in such numbers and volume that they threaten the integrity of the collector's market and the viability of research collections? Does NASA or ASU have some NWA in their cabinets masquerading as Tagish Lake? Did someone slip some Jbilet Winselwan into the Murchison jar? I hear a lot of things. I hear stuff about shady deals and shady operators. And I haven't heard jack about anyone dealing in bogus crumbs. It sounds like fear-mongering to me. The IMCA has enough to worry about without taking on the responsibility for policing the market's Bessey Specks. That's it, I think we should blame Dean. It's all his fault. LOL. ;) I collect crumbs. I have more crumbs than Pepperidge Farm. If people want genuine crumbs that are what the label says they are, they can come to me. There are a few more crumb-mongers who are legit. I won't name names, but they are probably reading this with interest, because that picture you painted includes them also - not by name, but by implication. That's all. This is silly. I'll shut up. -- - Web - http://www.galactic-stone.com Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/galacticstone Twitter - http://twitter.com/galacticstone Pinterest - http://pinterest.com/galacticstone - On 10/23/14, bill kies parkforest...@hotmail.com wrote: First, I didn't question your material. I question crumbs in general. Second, it shouldn't be the responsibility of the buyer to try and find a lab that would be willing to examine crumbs. Crumb sellers know this. So, I think it's time for someone to take this task seriously and look at these endless micros. IMCA maybe? I see your footnote about hate. What is that about? Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 20:32:02 -0400 To: meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Ebay Again! From: meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com Bill - Put your money where your mouth is. I have 100 localities of crumbs. Test every single one of them and post the results publicly. I'll give you a killer one-time discount deal for the purposes of testing. Use an XRF gun, microprobe, SEM, nickel test, magnetic susceptibility, or whatever method you choose. Just because you have a crazy bias against people who collect micromounts (and trade in them), doesn't give you any authority to make blanket judgements. Yes, buyers should always beware, and this is especially true with micro-crumbs that are not easily identified in a visual manner. If somebody wants a genuine speck of
[meteorite-list] Rosetta Comet Spreads Its Jets
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4355 Rosetta Comet Spreads Its Jets Jet Propulsion Laboratory October 24, 2014 This image of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, taken by Rosetta's Optical, Spectroscopic, and Infrared Remote Imaging System (OSIRIS) on Sept. 20, from a distance of 4.5 miles (7.2 kilometers), shows jets of dust and gas streaming into space from the neck of the comet's nucleus. Images of the comet nucleus, taken by Rosetta earlier in the summer, showed that the distinct jets of dust and gas emanating from the comet were originated from the neck region, which connects the comet's two lobes. Images obtained by OSIRIS now show jets of dust along almost the entire length of the comet. Rosetta and comet 67P are still more than 280 million miles (450 million kilometers) from the sun. Based on a rich history of ground-based observations, scientists have been expecting the comet's activity to pick up noticeably once it comes within 186 million miles (300 million kilometers). On Nov. 12, the Rosetta spacecraft will release its Philae lander at 3:03 a.m. EST / 1:03 a.m. PST (Earth Receive Time). Touchdown of Philae on Site J is expected about seven hours later, at around 11 a.m. EST / 8 a.m. PST. Rosetta is the first mission to attempt a soft landing on a comet. While 67P's overall activity is clearly increasing, the mission's designated landing site, J, located on the head of the comet, still seems to be rather quiet. However, there is some indication that new active areas are waking up about half a mile (one kilometer) from J. These will allow the lander's instruments to study the comet's activity from an even closer distance. Launched in March 2004, Rosetta was reactivated in January 2014 after a record 957 days in hibernation. Composed of an orbiter and lander, Rosetta's objectives since arriving at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko earlier this month have been to study the celestial object up close in unprecedented detail, prepare for landing a probe on the comet's nucleus in November and, following the landing, track the comet's changes as it sweeps past the sun. The scientific imaging system OSIRIS was built by a consortium led by the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (Germany) in collaboration with CISAS, University of Padova (Italy), the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille (France), the Instituto de AstrofÃsica de Andalucia, CSIC (Spain), the Scientific Support Office of the European Space Agency (The Netherlands), the Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (Spain), the Universidad Politéchnica de Madrid (Spain), the Department of Physics and Astronomy of Uppsala University (Sweden), and the Institute of Computer and Network Engineering of the TU Braunschweig (Germany). OSIRIS was financially supported by the national funding agencies of Germany (DLR), France (CNES), Italy (ASI), Spain (MEC), and Sweden (SNSB) and the ESA Technical Directorate. Rosetta is a European Space Agency mission with contributions from its member states and NASA. Rosetta's Philae lander is provided by a consortium led by the German Aerospace Center, Cologne; Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Gottingen; National Center of Space Studies of France (CNES), Paris; and the Italian Space Agency, Rome. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, a division of the California Institute of Technology, manages the U.S. participation in the Rosetta mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. For more information on the U.S. instruments aboard Rosetta, visit: http://rosetta.jpl.nasa.gov More information about Rosetta is available at: http://www.esa.int/rosetta Media Contact DC Agle 818-393-9011 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. a...@jpl.nasa.gov Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726 NASA Headquarters, Washington dwayne.c.br...@nasa.gov Markus Bauer 011-31-71-565-6799 European Space Agency, Noordwijk, Netherlands markus.ba...@esa.int 2014-374 __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] MRO Spectrometer Shows Oort Comet's Coma
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4353 Mars Orbiter's Spectrometer Shows Oort Comet's Coma The Compact Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) observed comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring as the comet sped close to Mars on Oct. 19. CRISM recorded imaging data in 107 different wavelengths, showing the inner part of the cloud of dust, called the coma, surrounding the comet's nucleus. Two images from CRISM presenting three of the recorded wavelengths are online at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA15291 Comet Siding Spring -- an Oort Cloud comet that may contain material from the formation of the solar system some 4.6 billion years ago -- was making its first voyage through the inner solar system. CRISM and many other instruments and spacecraft combined forces to provide an unprecedented data set for an Oort Cloud comet. The appearance of color variations in the CRISM observations of the inner coma could be due to the properties of the comet's dust, possibly dust grain size or composition. The full spectra will be analyzed to better understand the reason for the color variations. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland, provided and operates CRISM. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the orbiter. For more about CRISM, visit: http://crism.jhuapl.edu/ For more about Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, visit: http://mars.nasa.gov/mro/ For more about comet Siding Spring, including other images of the comet, visit: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/comets/sidingspring/ Media Contact Guy Webster Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-354-6278 guy.webs...@jpl.nasa.gov Geoffrey Brown Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory 240-228-5618 geoffrey.br...@jhuapl.edu 2014-372 __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Mars Odyssey THEMIS Images: October 20-24, 2014
MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES October 20-24, 2014 o Faults and Flows (20 October 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20141020a o Sirenum Fossae (21 October 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20141021a o Crater Dunes (22 October 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20141022a o Candor Chasma (23 October 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20141023a o Mangala Fossa (24 October 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20141024a All of the THEMIS images are archive here: http://themis.asu.edu/latest.html NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in co.oration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Third of Four Planned Maneuvers Extends MESSENGER Orbital Operations
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=267 MESSENGER Mission News October 24, 2014 Third of Four Planned Maneuvers Extends MESSENGER Orbital Operations MESSENGER mission controllers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., conducted the third of four maneuvers today to raise the spacecraft's minimum altitude sufficiently to extend orbital operations and delay the probe's inevitable impact onto Mercury's surface until early next spring. The first of the four maneuvers, completed on June 17, raised MESSENGER's altitude at closest approach from 115 kilometers (71.4 miles) to 156.4 kilometers (97.2 miles) above the planet's surface. The second of the four maneuvers, completed on September 12, raised MESSENGER's altitude at closest approach from 25.2 kilometers (15.7 miles) to 93.7 kilometers (58.2 miles) above the planet's surface. Because of progressive changes to the orbit over time, the spacecraft's minimum altitude has continued to decrease since September. At the time of this most recent maneuver, MESSENGER was in an orbit with an altitude at closest approach of 26 kilometers (16.1 miles) above the surface of Mercury. With a velocity change of 19.37 meters per second (43.33 miles per hour), the spacecraft's four largest monopropellant thrusters (with a small contribution from four of the 12 smallest monopropellant thrusters) nudged the spacecraft to an orbit with a closest approach altitude of 185.2 kilometers (115.1 miles). This maneuver also increased the spacecraft's speed relative to Mercury at the maximum distance from Mercury, adding about 7.4 minutes to the spacecraft's eight-hour, five-minute orbit period. This view shows MESSENGER's orientation shortly after the start of the maneuver. http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/the_mission/maneuvers.html MESSENGER was 116.9 million kilometers (72.64 million miles) from Earth when the 2 minute, 29 second maneuver began at 2:58 p.m. EDT. Mission controllers at APL verified the start of the maneuver 6.5 minutes later, after the first signals indicating spacecraft thruster activity reached NASA's Deep Space Network tracking station outside of Goldstone, California. One more maneuver, on January 21, 2015, will again raise the spacecraft's minimum altitude, allowing the MESSENGER science team to continue to collect images and other data from the spacecraft's instruments. MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) is a NASA-sponsored scientific investigation of the planet Mercury and the first space mission designed to orbit the planet closest to the Sun. The MESSENGER spacecraft was launched on August 3, 2004, and entered orbit about Mercury on March 17, 2011 (March 18, 2011 UTC), to begin a yearlong study of its target planet. MESSENGER's first extended mission began on March 18, 2012, and ended one year later. MESSENGER is now in a second extended mission, which is scheduled to conclude in March 2015. Dr. Sean C. Solomon, the Director of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, leads the mission as Principal Investigator. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory built and operates the MESSENGER spacecraft and manages this Discovery-class mission for NASA. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
