All Articles Tagged As: messenger

Mercury's 'Spider' Pantheon Fossae Formation Linked To Asteroid Impact (9/30/2008)

The Pantheon Fossae, a radiating web of troughs located in the giant Caloris Basin of Mercury, is directly linked to an impact crater at the centre of the web. ...> Full Article

Mercury's surface dominated by volcanic activity (7/5/2008)

Volcanism has played a more extensive role in shaping the surface of Mercury than scientists had thought. This result comes from multispectral imaging data gathered in January 2008 by MESSENGER, the latest spacecraft to visit the sun's innermost planet. ...> Full Article

Mercury's shifting, rolling past (3/18/2008)

Simulation reveals possible cause of Mercury's distinctive features ...> Full Article

Mercury's magnetosphere fends off the solar wind (2/2/2008)

The planet Mercury's magnetic field appears to be strong enough to fend off the harsh solar wind from most of its surface, according to data gathered in part by a University of Michigan instrument onboard NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft. ...> Full Article

Mercury In Color (1/24/2008)

One week ago, the MESSENGER spacecraft transmitted to Earth the first high-resolution image of Mercury by a spacecraft in over 30 years, since the three Mercury flybys of Mariner 10 in 1974 and 1975. MESSENGER's Wide Angle Camera (WAC), part of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS), is equipped with 11 narrow-band color filters, in contrast to the two visible-light filters and one ultraviolet filter that were on Mariner 10's vidicon camera. ...> Full Article

Europe's Mercury mission swings into action (1/19/2008)

The European Space Agency (ESA) signalled the start of a busy period for the planet Mercury, when it signed the contract for industrial development to start for the BepiColombo mission today (18th January 2008) at Astrium in Friedrichshafen, Germany. UK scientists and industry have key roles in BepiColombo, including construction of spacecraft subsystems and science instrument design. ...> Full Article

First Look at Mercury's Previously Unseen Side (1/17/2008)

When Mariner 10 flew past Mercury three times in 1974 and 1975, the same hemisphere was in sunlight during each encounter. As a consequence, Mariner 10 was able to image less than half the planet. Planetary scientists have wondered for more than 30 years about what spacecraft images might reveal about the hemisphere of Mercury that Mariner 10 never viewed. ...> Full Article

Space Scientists Ready For Messenger Mission Flyby Of Mercury (1/14/2008)

NASA will point a power-packed $8.7 million University of Colorado at Boulder space instrument at some of the last unexplored terrain in the inner solar system when the MESSENGER spacecraft whips within 125 miles of Mercury's surface Jan. 14 at a mind-boggling 141,000 miles per hour. ...> Full Article

MESSENGER Only One Week from Mercury (1/8/2008)

MESSENGER's mid-December trajectory correction maneuver (TCM-19) went so well that the mission's design and navigation teams have decided that a TCM scheduled for January 10 will not be needed. ...> Full Article

Planetary geologist part of NASA's Messenger mission to Mercury (12/26/2007)

NASA has selected Case Western Reserve University geophysicist Steven A. Hauck II as one of 23 "participating scientists" to join a team collecting and analyzing data from the MESSENGER mission to Mercury. MESSENGER, an autonomous spacecraft, is expected to reach the innermost planet in January. ...> Full Article