HTTP:: MESSENGER Begins Third Mercury Flyby Today
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NASA's MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) probe is scheduled to begin its third and final flyby of the closest planet to the Sun today, before pulling a complex, gravity-assist maneuver that will allow for it to be captured in the planet's orbit starting with March 2011. Traveling at more than 100,000 miles per hour, the spacecraft will fly at less than 142 miles above the surface of Mercury, and will image the portions that were left unchecked during the previous two flights. The probe, launched in 2004, will travel about 4.9 billion miles in its journey. “We will be pointing at each individual target from several different angles during the flyby, which will allow us to collect more data. One of the big questions planetary scientist have is how much iron there is on Mercury's surface. We hope to pinpoint the iron, determine what chemical form it is in and how it is bound up on the planet's surface,†University of Colorado in Bould!
er (UCB) senior research associate William McClintock explains. He holds an appointment at the university's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, and he is also a co-investigator for the MESSENGER mission. McClintock is part of the UCB science team that worked on designing the Mercury Atmospher...
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http://news.softpedia.com/news/MESSENGER-Begins-Third-Mercury-Flyby-Today-122898.shtml
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