Unraveling the Mercury mystery: Boldly going where no one has gone before

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Artists concept of the NASAs MESSENGER spaceraft at Mercury. Credit: NASA
Artist's concept of the NASA's MESSENGER spaceraft at Mercury. Credit: NASA

Twelve years ago Sean Solomon put a proposal in front of NASA to develop the first probe to orbit Mercury. His tenacity has finally paid off. Three months ago his spacecraft, named Messenger (Mercury surface, space environment, geochemistry and ranging), made its first flyby of Mercury, recording never-before-seen images of the mysterious planet.


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All News summaries for April 09, 2008

Partial Solar Eclipse visible from the UK on the morning of 1st August

43 minutes ago | User rating: not rated yet
On 1st August 2008 there will be a total eclipse of the Sun, visible from Canada, northern Greenland, Svalbard, the Barents Sea, Russia, Mongolia and China. From the whole of the British Isles observers will see a partial ...

Rising energy, food prices major threats to wetlands as farmers eye new areas for crops

5 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
Critical food shortages and growing demand for bio-fuels and hydro-electricity due to high fossil fuel prices rank among the greatest threats today to the preservation of precious wetlands worldwide as farmers and developers ...

EPA: Few volunteering to cut greenhouse gases

6 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
(AP) -- Voluntary pollution-reduction programs touted by the Bush administration as part of the solution to global warming have "limited potential" to reduce greenhouse gases, according to an internal government watchdog.

Trench on Mars Ready for Next Sampling by NASA Lander

Jul 24, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has groomed the bottom of a shallow trench to prepare for collecting a sample to be analyzed from a hard subsurface layer where the soil may contain frozen water. ...

Arctic 'holds 90bln barrels of oil, mostly offshore'

Jul 24, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
Within the Arctic circle there are 90 billion barrels of oil and vast quantities of natural gas waiting to be tapped, most of it offshore, the government-run US Geological Survey said.
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