NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

MESSENGER Teleconference: More 'Hidden' Territory on Mercury Revealed

Image of Mercury captured by MESSENGER on the probe's second approach. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
> Larger image NASA's Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) is the first mission sent to orbit the planet closest to the sun. On Oct. 6, 2008, the probe flew by Mercury for the second time this year, using the planet’s gravity for a critical assist needed to keep the spacecraft on track for its orbit insertion around the planet three years from now. During this month's Mercury pass MESSENGER’s cameras captured more than 1,200 high-resolution and color images of the planet -- unveiling another 30 percent of Mercury’s surface that had never before been seen by spacecraft and gathering essential data for planning the overall mission.

A media teleconference at 1 p.m. ET on Oct. 29, 2008, will discuss these new findings.

> Read the press release
> View presentation materials