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Japan And EU Plan Joint Mission To Mercury

Posted by timothy on from the ten-four-good-buddy dept.

Devar writes "Japan and the European Space Agency have revealed their plans for a joint mission to Mercury that would be the first to land a probe on its surface. The mission also includes two orbiters to map the surface, all due to be launced in 2010."

8 of 32 comments (clear)

  1. ....... Puff... by Hougaard · · Score: 4, Funny

    Did you see the smoke NASA ? :-)

  2. 2010 by redune45 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Pretty cool, but not nearly as great as rescuing a haywire AI while orbiting Jupiter

    --
    redune.com: The World 3.2 Megapixels at a time
  3. Joint mission? by jwriney · · Score: 3, Funny

    How the hell are you gonna keep it lit in space?

    --riney

    1. Re:Joint mission? by Some+Dumbass... · · Score: 2, Funny

      58.6 days should be enough for most missions.

      Oh sure, that's what you say now. But what about in the future when operating systems get larger and more complex? I predict that in 20 years it'll take 60+ days just to boot the OS on the probe. (At least if they're still using 8088 chips on those things)

  4. FP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    FIRST PLANET!

  5. Word not found... by jpsst34 · · Score: 2, Funny

    The word you've entered isn't in the dictionary. Click on a spelling suggestion below or try again using the Dictionary search box to the right.

    Suggestions for launced:

    1. lensed
    2. lanced
    3. linseed
    4. launched
    5. launces
    6. lancer
    7. leaned
    8. launce
    9. lenses
    10. leanest
    11. leanness
    12. lancet

    --
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  6. Re:BepiColombo by wowbagger · · Score: 3, Funny

    So, the probe will go to Mecury, circle 'round it, inspect it, and start to leave.

    Then it will turn around, and say,

    "There's just one thing that puzzles me, sir..."

    --
    www.eFax.com are spammers
  7. Re:BepiColombo by Alsee · · Score: 2, Funny

    One of the more exciting bit about the mission is the lander (or impactor, depending)

    No sir, the mission didn't fail. We just had an unexpected revision in mission type.

    -

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    - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.