NASA released on Wednesday more of the first images of Mercury taken by a spacecraft orbiting the planet, including the first color closeups depicting it in all its pock-marked glory.
The images were taken by NASA's Messenger spacecraft, the first mission to orbit the planet closest to the sun, according to Messenger's website. Mercury has been seen up close before in fly-bys, but this mission marks the first complete long view reconnaissance of the planet’s geochemistry, geophysics, geologic history, atmosphere, magnetosphere, and plasma environment.
The mission also allows NASA and its partner, The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, an opportunity to show off Messenger's impressive Mercury Dual Imaging System, which has two cameras: the Narrow Angle Camera and the Wide Angle Camera, NASA said.
The first image acquired by Messenger, which was released Tuesday, was part of an eight-image sequence for which images were acquired through eight of the wide angle camera's 11 filters. A color version of that first imaged terrain, pocked with craters, was obtained through the filters and displayed in red, green, and blue, respectively, NASA said.
Over the next two days, Messenger will acquire more than 1,000 additional images in support of a phase to review spacecraft and instrument performance. The yearlong primary science phase of the mission will begin on April 4, during which it is expected to acquire more than 75,000 images.
The Messenger spacecraft launched on August 3, 2004, and after fly-bys of Earth, Venus and Mercury, started its historic orbit around Mercury on March 17.
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory built and operates the Messenger spacecraft and manages the Discovery-class mission for NASA. Messenger is an acronym for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging.
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What an amazing mission! Awesome pictures! It's heartening to think we are still advancing our knowledge and reaching for the stars, despite all the luddites, myopes, and general science haters out there. Stay curious, people!
The sad part about space exploration is that the big motivation is war. Wars are the catalist for science and technology. When countries really work together we will have a real star trek world working together. Most of the research done today has a weapon component on it. Even medical research a few times is there to create a perfect soldier. We need to go to space for the right reasons and with private companies in charge. The NASA model of business is obsolete. Private companies would have done more, in less time and with less money.
The flag has a small wire passing through the top of it so it looks like its waving in the wind. The moon is not that far from earth (in the big picture) there were plenty of people that tracked the capsule all the way to the moon with telescopes. I guess you are going to say the space shuttle never made it to space either.
Maybe we did get some technology from UFO's to help do all this. Is that really that far fetched? The universe is very big.
Jazz7> I love the fact that you are this lone creative Free Spirit buzzing and zipping about from one intellectual post to another. I just luv it! That is what the Planets name sake was known for doing as well, Mercury the speedy messenger.
You sort of personify that mythical image...please keep zipping about with your messages;)
Shotzbot, has been banned from commenting on CNN......No reason given just one small voice for freedom and liberty denied their rights of free speach by CNN.
Shotzbot, has been banned from commenting on CNN......No reason given just one small voice for freedom and liberty denied their rights of free speech by CNN.
The pics from Mercury are swell, but I'm hoping I live long enough to see any pics that come back from the New Horizons project out at Pluto. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/index.html
Talk about bang for your buck, you guys know that the Cassini mission to Saturn is STILL returning pics and data?
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/main/index.html
As an old dude growing up in the late 40's and the rockin' 50's I fully support NASA and all that they do. What better return for a measly couple of billion bucks than an understanding of our surroundings?
Those droll trolls out there that blast this agency don't know a quasar from a hole in the ground IMHO.
We are a fifth grade class in Texas. We want to know more about how the Messenger was launched. How did they know the right time to launch it? Where exactly was it launched from? We also want to know what are some of the similarities and differences between the surface and atmosphere of Earth and Mercury? Is there any evidence of natural disasters in Mercury's history? We're also curious about the color enhanced photos. Is Mercury's surface really that color? Or do the colors represent something else, like temperature? The article says that the Messenger did a fly-by of Earth and Venus before reaching Mercury. How did they do that, and why was it necessary? Did it sling-shot around the planets? Do the pictures tell us anything about how old Mercury is or how it was formed? Thanks for your help!
Why can't we view our post? Where is it?
Hey, I receive a 504 Gateway Timeout error when I browse your site. This sometimes means the host did not receive a response. I thought yuo may want to know. Best wishes Jim
*Oops*. I meant to write "... even space supporters can't CLAIM that space exploration somehow has a direct impact ..."
How much does it cost: Roughly about $4.00 from each of us paid out over several years in installments. I doubt you missed the money. How does it help? Actually it only helps the few percent of use who prefer not be be ignorant of the solar system we live it. Maybe a more direct effect is that we can only learn about how planets "work" be studying a wide range of them. So we learn about earth by comparing it to other planets. But really I think the photos and the more technical science articles that come out of this are enough to justify my $4.00 spent.
Big fishes? You mean like our defense budget? Where's the return on that? I don't recall seeing the price of gas go anywhere but mostly up!
We had control of Iraq, but where's our oil? We seized what treasure we could, but everything seems to go into the pockets of the independent contractors who are not subject to price controls or ethics.
And Afghanistan. And everything we do without visible benefit. There are tactical things we must do, including space exploration and scientific research in every industry. Where's our money from that?
Four bucks is not too much for me. I'm still waiting for my flying car, though.
Frankly, I'm appalled that we don't spend *more* on space exploration and scientific endeavor. We seem to live in a generation of complacency, where we take our science and technology completely for granted... These achievements do not come free. They come through the blood, sweat, and tears of great minds, and more importantly, the willingness of our government to fund pure scientific endeavor for the sake of furthering our understanding of things.
Knowledge. Is. Important.
Here is one way it helps... this kind of stuff gets people hooked on science and engineering. For every kid who uses this as a launchpad to go into actual space research, you probably have 100 who end up becoming our next generation of engineers... and that is something our country really needs.