Another big project for Nasa coming up is the launch of their Messenger satellite. Despite the fact that Mercury is one of the closer planets, it'll be 7 years before Messenger enters Mercury's orbit in 2011. The launch is scheduled in one day from now. This time the challenge is one for handling the sweltering heat. Being only 76 million miles or so from the Sun, this trip is worse than standing in Death Vallery on the hottest day of the year. Probably more so as you'd probably turn to goo faster than Japanese women hitting a local sale. I think the physics in this mission is far more interesting than the imagery. Mercury isn't as glamorous as Titan or the Saturn system. Nor is the place a viable source for living compared to Mars. But just getting there and seeing our probe survive should be a feat in itself.
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