Welcome

This is the homepage of the Solar-Heliospheric Research Group at the University of Michigan. We study the physics of the Sun and the heliosphere through theory, data analysis and space instrumentation. Visiting our Missions, Science, and Technology sections will give you a better idea of the kind of work we do.

News

FIPS makes first ever measurements of ions at Mercury

14 Mar 2008 -- As you may have guessed, we've been pretty busy analyzing the wealth of data that FIPS returned from the January flyby of Mercury. We are still working (hard!) to really understand the data, but we can already see that FIPS has accomplished two important firsts at Mercury:

1) FIPS has taken the first ever measurements of ions in the space environment of Mercury.

The low energy plasma spectrometer on Mariner 10, similar to FIPS, unfortunately failed before the flybys. Of course, scientists believed that there were ions in the space environment of Mercury, but this is the first evidence.

2) FIPS has taken the first ever measurements of ions that actually came from the planet Mercury.

This is really the first physical sample of this alien world! All other observations of Mercury matter have been made by remote sensing (cameras, spectrometers). On the contrary, when FIPS measures ions, they actually have to fly into the instrument and be physically sampled.

We hope to add a number of more firsts before we are done.

FIPS Healthy After Flyby

15 Jan 2008 -- We are breathing easily again here in the SHRG: Status packets are coming down from the MESSENGER spacecraft indicating that FIPS is healthy and properly configured after the Mercury flyby yesterday.

We are still waiting for the science data. Ironically, it is being delayed by a problem with the Ulysses spacecraft, which is carrying one of our prized SWICS instruments. Maybe we should be holding our breath again. :-)

Mercury Flyby Today!

14 Jan 2008 --

Update, 16:00 EST

Seconds after it emerged from behind Mercury, engineers re-aquired MESSENGER's radio signal, indicating that all is still well with the spacecraft. Downlink of science data should begin as planned on Tuesday -- soon after that we'll know how FIPS faired.

Earlier today

Finally, after years of waiting, MESSENGER will make it's first encounter with the planet Mercury today! Our FIPS instrument will be along to take first ever ion measurements of the the closest planet in our solar system to the Sun. FIPS was built here at Michigan by members of the Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences Department and the Space Physics Research Lab.

Downlink of data to the ground is limited leading up to the encounter, so FIPS had to execute the final preparation commands yesterday in the blind -- without our monitoring. We will be holding our collective breath waiting for those first few packets of data, confirming that FIPS is configured and taking data as planned.

Later this afternoon, we hope to receive confirmation from the MESSENGER Operations Team that the flyby went well. We will have to wait until tomorrow to see any actual FIPS data -- that will seem like one long day.

Stay tuned to this site and the official MESSENGER site for updates throughout the day.

Image from Astronomy Picture of the Day

Inbound to Mercury!

10 Jan 2008 -- The MESSENGER spacecraft is speeding toward the planet Mercury at 13,000 mph, heading for the first flyby of the planet in over 30 years. Onboard is Univ. of Michigan's own Fast Imaging Plasma Spectrometer, which will take the first ever measurements of ions around Mercury.

The spacecraft will reach the closest approach altitude of just over 200 km from the planet surface at 3:04pm EST on Monday, 14 Jan 2008.

For more details, read the full press release.