On St. Patrick's Day NASA's luck was on full display with the
successful placement of the MESSENGER spacecraft into Mercury's orbit. Launched more than 6.5 years ago, this little craft traveled more than 4.9 billion miles to get to this point. The imaging of Mercury's surface should start on March 29th and the year-long mission will officially begin on April 4th. The image to the left is from MESSENGER's first flyby of the planet in January 2008.
Mercury should be a fascinating study of contrasts, with a surface temperature of 845°F and yet the possibility of frozen water at its poles. And why does Mercury have a relatively strong magnetic field when compared to Mars? We still have plenty to learn about this little planet.
You can follow the mission
here.
