Posted on 09/06/2026 6:44:20 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Mercury, the tiniest and least-explored planet in the inner solar system, is hiding mysteries far larger than itself — and finally, scientists will soon be getting not one but two spacecraft designed to decode the strange world.
That's thanks to the BepiColombo mission, a joint project of the European Space Agency (ESA) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) that launched in October 2018. After a harrowing journey through the inner solar system, the mission is tackling a crucial maneuver on Thursday (Sept. 3): separating its science equipment from the transport that carried it all that way. By April 2027, scientists hope the mission's two instrument-heavy probes will be gathering a slew of observations that could help solve puzzles about Mercury — and maybe even the solar system we call home.
...
. By April, if all goes well, the mission will consist of two separate spacecraft gathering independent but coordinated data about Mercury.
Europe's Mercury Planetary Orbiter, or MPO, will focus on the planet proper. It's packed with 11 science instruments that will map the terrain, minerals in the crust, and the gravity field, investigate the hollows and volcanic deposits, and observe how the barrage of charged particles from the sun affects this innermost planet.
Japan's Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, or Mio, meanwhile, will focus on the planet's surroundings — its magnetosphere and wispy atmosphere, as well as the dust cluttering up its neighborhood.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
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Even the Atlas rockets of today are substantially different from their forerunners of the 60’s.
Graphic artists and an army of public relations spinners are a lot cheaper.
Lol.
LOL!
Freddie Mercury I presume.
I’m looking forward to seeing the moons of Mercury up close.
They call that planetary twerking now.
I think you are thinking of "Pepe Columbo". ;-)
Serious answer: The hard part isn't getting there, it's matching orbits for a prolonged photo session.
“I believe that Mercury rotates still at about 1.5 times per revolution about the Sun.”
I sit corrected. But in my defence, understanding what it does in rotation needs one smarter than me. You probably know more.
Here’s what I came up with and it would take a rocket scientist to understand:
“Mercury spins slowly on its axis and completes one rotation every 59 Earth days. But when Mercury is moving fastest in its elliptical orbit around the Sun (and it is closest to the Sun), each rotation is not accompanied by sunrise and sunset like it is on most other planets. The morning Sun appears to rise briefly, set, and rise again from some parts of the planet’s surface. The same thing happens in reverse at sunset for other parts of the surface. One Mercury solar day (one full day-night cycle) equals 176 Earth days – just over two years on Mercury.”
https://science.nasa.gov/mercury/facts/
If you can piece that one out, you’re pretty bright. Good on ya.
wy69
In a Republic, government is By The People and For The People. No people or entity are perfect but in general they work for Us and we have a process in place to ensure that.
Musk does not work for us yet his largest companies would not have survived without government programs. I agree he is a visionary in marketing by taking advantage of government funding while simultaneously convincing people government is bad once he no longer needs it...
Absolutely fascinating.
That doesn’t sound as funny as Uranus.
-PJ
It used solar power and did three fly-bys with Venus.
New!
Isn’t he the guy who once upon a time ruled the streets of upper Manhattan and the Bronx with an iron fist?
Musk will be landing on Mars while NASA is still breaking helicopters.
NASA is a BOONDOGGLE. The government knows only how to waste the money of Americans.
I thought Musk would balk at the Green Energy Scam getting called what it was. I thought he might see a threat to government subsidies as a threat to his business. He is bigger than I thought.
Yet it is through NASA that all of America’s greatest firsts in Space were all accomplished.
It was NASA project management with teams from Lockheed, Northrop and Boeing that returned humans to lunar orbit and just now made a new record for taking humans furthest into space.
It was NASA project management that repeatedly landed rovers on Mars that lasted many more years and studied far more than we ever expected.
It was NASA project management that launched Voyager which continues to make observations far into INTERSTELLAR space beyond the solar system. Far longer than NASA even expected.
Due to the transit time I doubt landing humans on Mars will be profitable long before it is necessary for national security. I knew Musk should have focused on space tourism to the moon first since it is a much shorter journey and they actually pivoted this year to focus on moon first. I wonder if NASA success this year had anything to do with it.
Yes Musk talked big to end green subsidies when his companies got big enough to not need it. Musk also talked big about NASA and even threatened to leave astronauts in space if they don’t play ball once he no longer needed them for cash.
It’s like people who were once on foodstamps then complain about others using it when they get rich...
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