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May 31 was a busy day for the MESSENGER integration
team, as several important milestones occurred after many weeks
of hard work. The most obvious addition to the spacecraft is the
frame for the sunshade, which will be critical for protecting
the spacecraft from the intense heat of the Sun while in orbit
at Mercury. Less obvious - but no less important - was the installation
of the front phased array antenna on the sunshade frame. The phased
array antennas will serve as the primary communications link with
Earth during orbital operations.
Additionally the first science instrument
was installed inside the Launch Vehicle Adapter ring. In this
view, you can see the legs of two engineers as they actually stand
inside the adapter to install the Mercury Atmospheric and Surface
Composition Spectrometer (MASCS) instrument. MESSENGER's other
instruments are in different phases of testing and will be added
to the spacecraft over the next six weeks.
Click here
(or right-click here
to download) to see a time-lapse movie of the activity on May
31. (MPEG, 3.26 MB file)
Last updated: June 5, 2003
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