Sandbox

Mimetex:

2008

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MESSENGER Sets Record for Accuracy of Planetary Flyby

"By using solar sailing – rotating the spacecraft and tilting its solar panels to use the very small pressure from sunlight to alter the spacecraft’s trajectory – MESSENGER navigators have achieved a new record for the smallest miss distance between the intended and actual closest approach distance during a flyby of a planet other than Earth."

--Ben 20:24, 10 October 2008 (UTC)

Review of Solar Sails: A Novel Approach to Interplanetary Travel on The Space Review

--Ben 21:42, 9 October 2008 (UTC)

MESSENGER to flyby Mercury 2nd time October 6th.

MESSENGER used solar pressure to correct the trajectory without using propellant. The multimedia page shows how solar sailing reduced the flyby target size.

--Ben 21:42, 9 October 2008 (UTC)

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