Messenger should end up circling Mercury 200kms from the surface.
NASA spacecraft trying to get into Mercury's orbit
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Making it difficult has been the sun's gravity and its incredible heat, forcing the probe to have large sunshades, said mission systems engineer Eric Finnegan. Messenger has had to take the long way around to get into Mercury's orbit because it has to continuously slow down and burn energy to get to the right place. While other spaceships have whipped around planets like a slingshot to speed up, Messenger has had to do just the opposite, going around Earth, Venus and Mercury to slow down
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Looks like there won't be any pictures of the arrival either, they're shutting the cameras.
Its been 36 years since Mariner 10 flew by!
(Messenger also flew by in 2008).
Great stuff ! Thanks for the 'heads-up' Mark !
Cheers
