NASA's Messenger Probe finally entered stable orbit last night on its final journey to the Sun's closest planet.
It has taken almost seven years to reach its final destination performing flybys of Earth and Venus before carrying out three flybys of Mercury before final orbit insertion which occured 00:45 GMT early Friday morning of the 18th March.
Mariner 10 back in the 1970's was the only space probe to fly by the Planet but it was never designed to make orbit. Only about 60% of the planet was imaged at that time and so it fell to Messenger to complete the portrait.
Armed with a whole host of instruments NASA scientists are hoping to unlock Mercury's secrets and make new discoveries in what is considered one of the most challenging environments given the close vicinity of the planet to the Sun.
More details can be found on NASA's website.
No comments:
Post a Comment