The Hindu : International / Globescan : Mercury probe set for blast-off

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Sunday, Aug 01, 2004

International

International - Globescan

Mercury probe set for blast-off

London: Final preparations for a scientific mission to Mercury, the closest planet to the sun, were being made by NASA officials on Friday. The U.S. space agency's $427-million Messenger probe is due to be launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida shortly after 7 a.m. (BST) on Monday, sending it on a 8.5 billion-km journey that will see it loop around the sun 15 times and slingshot past Venus, before entering into orbit around Mercury. The one-tonne Messenger probe is only the second spacecraft to set its sights on the tiny planet. The first, another NASA probe, called Mariner 10, took pictures as it flew past in 1974. While Mariner 10 was a successful mission, it only managed to gather information on less than half of the planet's surface. ``Mariner 10 left us with even more questions than it answered,'' said Orlando Figueroa of the solar system exploration division at NASA in Washington. ``Now, 30 years later, advances in technology, mission design and materials have enabled us to go back with a much more capable mission, which can help us understand and unravel the mysteries of the closest planet to the sun.'' —

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