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MESSENGER's Messages
On January 14, 2008, the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging spacecraft--or MESSENGER, for short--flew past Mercury for the first time. Mariner 10 was the last craft to visit the planet over thirty years ago in March of 1975. Thus, MESSENGER seeks to "open new theories and answer old questions in the study of the solar system," according to Paulette Brown of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab. The craft was launched on August 3 of 2004, and since that time has already observed Earth and Venus.
During its mission, MESSENGER is protected from the sun's intense heat by a layer of heat-resistant ceramic cloth. On board the craft are many instruments used to study Mercury's atmosphere, gravity field, and terrain. For example, the Mercury Dual Imaging System has a wide-angle and narrow-angle imaging system which will map the terrain of Mercury. MESSENGER will pass Mercury two more times (in October 2008 and September 2009), culminating its journey in 2011 with a year-long orbit of the planet.
In studying Mercury, NASA hopes to learn more about the evolution of all the terrestrial, or rocky, planets. Scientists do not know very much about the planet and are eager to explore it. NASA says, "Mercury is an extreme: the smallest, the densest, it has the oldest surface, the largest daily variations in surface temperature--and it's the least explored." MESSENGER is just the right spacecraft for studying this mysterious planet.
* Find out more about MESSENGER!
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