NASA’s first mission to the sun-baked planet Mercury in more than 30 years is set to blast off on 2 August. And if all goes well, the spacecraft will become the first to orbit the planet in March 2011.
To save fuel the new Messenger probe will take a long and convoluted route to the planet. Six flybys, of Earth, Venus, and Mercury itself, will manoeuvre the probe into orbit around Mercury. During its final year, the craft will orbit the planet once every 12 hours.
Messenger will explore the unique geology, magnetic field and surface chemistry of the solar…
