Data collected during MESSENGER's 43rd through 49th months in orbit around Mercury were released to the public by NASA's Planetary Data System (PDS), the network of nodes that archives and distributes data from NASA's planetary missions.
With this release, all data acquired by the MESSENGER mission are now available online – data collected through eight full Mercury solar days of orbit about the innermost planet in our solar system.
NASA requires that all of its planetary missions archive their data in the PDS to provide documented, peer-reviewed datasets to the research community.
This 14th delivery of MESSENGER data extends the formatted raw and calibrated data available at the PDS for the spacecraft's science instruments and the radio science investigation to the period from September 18, 2014, to April 30, 2015, when the MESSENGER mission ended with the spacecraft's anticipated impact onto Mercury's surface.
Ancillary spacecraft, planet, instrument, camera-matrix, and events (SPICE) data from launch through the end of spacecraft operations are included in this release.
The ACT-REACT QuickMap interactive Web interface to MESSENGER data has been updated to incorporate the full coverage of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) orbital data and the Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer (MASCS) Visible and Infrared Spectrograph (VIRS) measurements included in this delivery.
QuickMap can be accessed via links on the MESSENGER website here. MDIS mosaics can be downloaded from here.
The data for this release are available online here, and all of the MESSENGER data archived at the PDS are available here.
This is the final scheduled release of MESSENGER raw data products. The final release of MESSENGER calibrated and advanced products is scheduled for May 6, 2016.
