The team of scientists at the John University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) started monitoring the MESSENGER spacecraft as it began its second encounter with Mercury. With the help of the instruments onboard, scientists expect in addition to a new set of images to also receive never-before-seen details of the planet’s surface.

Furthermore, the spacecraft will also execute repetitive scans of Mercury’s comet-like anti-sunward tail, and will send back data on the physical processes in Mercury’s atmosphere, as well as on its dynamic magnetic field.

Scientists expect that as more details on Mercury gather up, it will help solve even more debates about this planet that date back 30 years ago.

One of the main goals of MESSENGER is to determine the composition of the planet’s surface. Scientists expect the instruments onboard to recover important details during this second flyby.

“We will be able to do the first test of differences in the chemical compositions between the two hemispheres viewed in the two flybys,” said Ralph McNutt, the mission's project scientist at APL. “Instruments will also provide information about portions of Mercury's surface in unprecedented detail.”

On January 14, 2008, MESSENGER completed its first Mercury flyby, and managed to return priceless images of the planet that Mariner 10 was not able to see three decades ago. Mariner 10, which provided the first orbital images of the planet, was also unfortunate enough to see the same face of Mercury on each of the three approaches.

MESSENGER is currently following a pre-established path through out inner solar system, which includes one flyby of Earth, two flybys of Venus and three flybys of Mercury. The main purpose of MESSENGER is to become the first spacecraft to enter an orbit around Mercury, which should happen in 2011.