Science Planning, Data Acquisition, Analysis, and Distribution for the MESSENGER Mission

Data acquisition, analysis, and distribution for the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission were highly successful because of the introduction of a new orbital concept of operations for the payload and approach for science planning, powerful and innovative spacecraft and ground tools, and the dedicated and skilled teams that supported these activities. This article focuses on these key science operations activities for the more than 4 years of MESSENGER orbital operations around Mercury (from 18 March 2011 to 30 April 2015) and the final post-orbit-operations period of data analysis and archiving (through 31 May 2017). Also highlighted are MESSENGER SciBox; Planetary Information Processing Environment, Rapid Environmental Assessment Composition Tools, and QuickMap; and other tools that were critical to those activities. The success of these operations resulted in a wealth of data that will continue to support scientific investigation of the planet Mercury for decades to come.