Software Enables Efficient Planning of MESSENGER Observations

SciBox, a scientific planning software package, has proven critical to the success of the MESSENGER mission to Mercury. With completion of the design of all primary-mission observations -- including more than 70,000 images and millions of spectral observations -- the SciBox software tool has substantially increased, relative to original expectations, the scientific return from the first year of Mercury orbital observations. The spacecraft team is now adapting the system to develop the best plan for MESSENGER's extended mission, which begins next month.