Short Trip for Mercury Probe

A NASA spacecraft destined for Mercury has made its first trip, a 20-mile (32-kilometer) trek that pales before the eventual five-year voyage it is expected to make on the way to its target planet.

After almost four years of design, assembly and testing, researchers with the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) at Johns Hopkins University in Laurel, Maryland shipped its Messenger spacecraft to the environmental testing facilities at NASA's nearby Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt. There, spacecraft is undergoing about 10 weeks of shakedown tests that will check its balance and alignment, simulate launch conditions, and subject it to the harsh temperatures it may experience near Mercury.

Messenger, an acronym for Mercury Surface and Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging, will be the first orbital mission to small Mercury, where the Sun shines 11 times brighter than it appears on Earth and daytime temperatures can surpass 800 degrees Fahrenheit (426 degrees Celsius). With seven science instruments, including a camera, laser altimeter, magnetometer and several spectrometers, Messenger is one of the most complex spacecraft ever built by APL, which will operate the craft during the NASA mission.

Project researchers hope the probe will shed light on the nature of Mercury's crust and thin atmosphere, as well as the makeup of its core and polar materials. In March, the spacecraft is due to be delivered to Kennedy Space Center in preparation for a May 2004 launch. Messenger is expected to swing past Mercury twice, first in 2007 and again in 2008, before entering orbit around the planet in 2009.

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2 posted on 01/02/2004 4:36:50 PM PST by Support Free Republic (Happy New Year)

Messenger will be the first orbital mission to small Mercury, where the Sun shines 11 times brighter than it appears on Earth and daytime temperatures can surpass 800 degrees Fahrenheit (426 degrees Celsius)

I'd recommend they go at night and avoid those high tempatures.

3 posted on 01/02/2004 6:46:08 PM PST by Lawgvr1955 (Sic Semper Tyrannus)

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