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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."

1 of 32 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Why Mercury? by Tackhead · · Score: 2, Insightful
    > So why Mercury? Especially considering the difference between the hottest daytime temps and the coldest night temps...
    >
    > This has me on curiosity alone.

    I think you just answered your own question: Curiosity alone.

    Off the top of my head, the insane spread between day/night temperatures would probably allow us to learn a lot about Mercury's composition by watching the rocks cool.

    I'd imagine they can also learn a lot about the sun during the approach and insertion/landing phase.

    Not do diss astrobiologists, but hey, there's more to space science than astrobiology.

    For instance, if I could break any law of physics I wanted to, I'd take a vacation to admire the view from any planet (not that any planets are likely to have remained in orbit!) around this star... as it dives to within 17 light-hours of a 2.6-million-solar-mass black hole at 2.5% of the speed of light?