NASA Spacecraft Snaps Photos of Mercury (Video)
Source: marketwatch.com
"NASA’s Messenger spacecraft delivers its first photos of Mercury and the first images ever taken from the rocky planet’s own orbit. Video courtesy of Reuters."
marketwatch.com
Images: NASA
The MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) probe is a 485-kilogram (1,070 lb) robotic American space probe in orbit around the planet Mercury. It was launched by NASA in August 2004 to study the chemical composition, geology, and the magnetic field of Mercury. It became the second mission to reach Mercury successfully when it made a flyby in January 2008, followed by a second flyby in October 2008,and a third flyby on September 2009.(The first space probe to reach Mercury was Mariner 10 in 1975.) MESSENGER is the first spacecraft to orbit the planet Mercury.[5] Inserting into orbit around Mercury is difficult because a satellite approaching on a direct path from Earth would be accelerated by the Sun’s gravity and pass Mercury far too quickly to orbit it.
The instruments carried by MESSENGER performed well on a complex series of flybys of Earth (once), Venus (twice), and Mercury itself (three times). These allowed the craft to be slowed relative to Mercury with minimal fuel. MESSENGER successfully entered Mercury orbit on 18 March 2011 with no reported problems. The craft’s science instruments were reactivated 24 March, with a first photo returned from Mercury orbit on 29 March. Its formal science data collection mission is planned to begin 4 April 2011.
Source
Mariner 10 was a robotic space probe launched by NASA on November 3, 1973, to fly by the planets Mercury and Venus. It was launched approximately 2 years after Mariner 9 and was the last spacecraft in the Mariner program (Mariner 11 and 12 were purposed to the Voyager program and redesignated Voyager 1 and Voyager 2). The mission objectives were to measure Mercury’s environment, atmosphere, surface, and body characteristics and to make similar investigations of Venus. Secondary objectives were to perform experiments in the interplanetary medium and to obtain experience with a dual-planet gravity assist mission.
Red Ice Will Be at:
Secret Space Program
April 3rd, 2011 in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Also tune into:
Richard Dolan - The Secret Space Program & Breakaway Civilization
Richard C. Hoagland - The Secret Space Program & The Fukushima Nuclear Reactor Disaster
Paul A. LaViolette - Electrogravitics, Advanced Space Travel, Pulsars & Breakaway Civilization
Jay Weidner - Kubrick’s Odyssey & The Brotherhood of Saturn
Peter Levenda - Secret Space Program & NASA’s Nazis
Timothy Good - Secret Space Program, UFOs, ET & Coverup
