Messenger Arrives at Mercury [NEWS]

In the first of several encounters, Messenger (Mercury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) is scheduled to fly by Mercury on 14 January 2008 at a little more than 25 000 kilometers per hour, coming within 200 km of the planet's surface. Because it must perform scientific observations and relay them to Earth while in the scorching glare of Mercury's tight solar orbit, the craft boasts a multilayer sunshade and the most advanced communications systems ever deployed in an interplanetary mission. To protect Messenger's wiring, electronics, and scientific instruments from the heat of being within 46 million km of the sun, it has a highly reflective and heat-resistant 5-square-meter micrometeorite-proof sunshade. Messenger also has a series of radiators and pipes to divert heat from the spacecraft body. The data the craft gathers could be put to work solving problems here on Earth. Messenger will not observe the sun directly, but by examining the effects of the solar wind on Mercury's magnetic field, scientists can make inferences about how solar storms cause radio interference, electricity grid disruptions, and other problems on Earth.