Mercury! Lets bomb it!!

Mercury, what a gem! Am I right?? Now, I’m not preaching about the fun poison causing mercury that you can get from old glass thermometers or the really dense Mercury you can ingest after slaughtering dolphins! I wish!! No, I’m talking about the big round thing near the sun. yeah, I know, your thinking Mercury, I aint no fan of WWF. Well good, you missed that trash wagon, but this my acquaintances is a planet. So in 2004… 2004!! We sent up a spacecraft known as the Messenger. And after five years The Messenger finished its third and final flyby of Mercury yesterday!! Its true! Not only did we send her a shout-out but we got pretty close to her face when we did it! Yep, the Messenger skimmed over the planet just 228 K above the surface. The latest images wont be available until tonight but there is a lot of talk about the detail and quality of the images, as well as their scientific value. The Messenger will be the first spacecraft to orbit the inner most planet in our solar system!! Check it, to get to Mercury and back, the messenger is having to follow a path that includes one flyby of Earth, two flyby’s of Venus, and three flyby’s of mercury. “Why should I give a shit?” you ask, well for one, this is the first new spacecraft data from mercury since the Mariner mission like 30 some years ago. Dos, the M-machine is designed unlike any other spacecraft because its gotta hold itself together in an extreme environment that’s incredibly close to the sun (which is hot). Additionally, Its only Earth, Venus, Mars and Mercury that are terrestrial planets. Mercury is one with the oldest surface, it has the largest daily variations in surface temperature and it’s the least explored…. Still don’t care? Alright, lets put this into a language you’ll be at all interested in… um, well this mission is really exciting because in order to succeed we created the most powerful and capable camera every imagined by scientists (thus it’ll be in your phone by 2015) with the capability of surviving so close to the sun (your phone can be dropped kicked and perhaps burned to a crisp, all the while still remaining functional). Additionally, getting info on a planet so similar in make up to our own means we can begin to understand how our planet will evolve and survive the next million years. Plus, if Mercury isn’t your fav, at least this info will help us learn more about whatever globe you do like. The only two planets in our solar system that have a global internal magnetic field are mercury and Earth… by characterizing M’s magnetic field we can try to figure out why the inner planets have such huge differences in their magnetic history. Anyway - Messenger is also looking into some deep crater interiors near the planets poles, craters that are never kissed by the sunlight, meaning maybe, the planet closest to the sol, has ice… also known as frozen agua. So whatever, I know, mercury isn’t my particular fav either, BUT this is still some cool shit and I figure you might want to see some cool pics. The ones below are not from the most recent flyby, but their still pretty stellar... In conclusion, here is Mercury. Lets Bomb it!!!



This is a shot of the Matisse Crater... meaning less to you, but mighty powerful to old M.