|
NASA
spacecraft becomes first to enter Mercury orbit
Friday March 18, 2011 02:58:17 PM,
IANS
|
|
Washington:
A NASA spacecraft, after over six years of space travel, has
become the first to enter the orbit of Mercury, the agency said
Friday.
The Messenger spacecraft began the orbit insertion manoeuvre at
0045 GMT Friday, RIA Novosti reported.
"NASA's Messenger spacecraft successfully achieved orbit around
Mercury. This marks the first time a spacecraft has accomplished
this engineering and scientific milestone at our solar system's
innermost planet," the NASA website said.
It took the spacecraft more than six years to enter the orbit of
Mercury, the least explored planet of the solar system.
To reach its destination point, the spacecraft, launched in 2004,
covered over 7.8 billion km. It followed a route through the inner
solar system, which included one fly-by of Earth, two fly-bys of
Venus, and three fly-bys of Mercury.
Engineers will check how the spacecraft's systems are sustaining
in Mercury's harsh thermal environment, and equipment will be
turned on March 23. The scientific mission will begin April 4.
Mercury is the smallest and the densest planet among the four
terrestrial planets, including Venus, Earth and Mars. Before the
Messenger mission, only 45 percent of Mercury's surface had been
photographed by a spacecraft. The previous mission was Mariner-10,
launched in the 1970s.
|
|
Home |
Top of the Page |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Top
Stories |
|
 Go
Manmohan, says opposition after WikiLeaks expose
The embattled Manmohan Singh government Thursday faced its worst
crisis yet with the opposition joining hands in asking it to
resign immediately following allegations on WikiLeaks that the
Congress had
»
Wikileaks on Cash for
Vote:
Quotable Quotes
Leaders,
aides deny WikiLeaks claims |
|
|
|
Most
Read |
|
NIA to
take over saffron terror cases by next week
The National Investigation Agency
(NIA) is likely to take over all terror »
MLAs
demand release of 2006 Malegaon blast accused in Maha Assembly |
|
UN
Security Council imposes no-fly zone over Libya
The UN
Security Council Thursday voted to ban flights in Libya's airspace
and authorized military action to implement the ban, triggering
intervention by individual countries and organizations like NATO.
B
»
India
abstains from Libya vote, fears it may worsen situation
|
|
|
|
News Pick |
|
'Colours
of Mrs. Salma Ansari's Rainbow' shower AMU
How could children playing and
searching food on a mound of rubbish be persuaded to join a
school? This is eloquently answered in a deeply
» |
|
Ruckus in Jammu and Kashmir
assembly over interlocutors' report
Opposition parties Thursday held noisy
protests in the legislative assembly against the sixth report of
interlocutors on
»
Hope in
Kashmir as interlocutors begin mission
|
|
This
Indian professor doesn't want to return from Japan
Even as
Japan faces the worst tragedy since World War-II, 55-year-old Saleem-ul-Rahman Nadvi,
who has been living in the island nation for last 30 years,
doesn't
»
IAEA
chief calls situation 'very serious', heads to Japan
|
|
Delhi-based bogus company visits Panjab University
Panjab
University officials here were left red-faced after they
discovered that a Delhi-based company, which conducted campus
interviews at its School of Communication Studies (SCS) department
for public relations jobs, was bogus.
»
|
|
280 NGOs
given grants through Maulana Azad Foundation
The government today said it has provided financial assistance to
280 NGOs in the country through Maulana Azad
»
Govt announces leadership development program for minority women
|
|
|
|
Picture of the Day |
|
 |
|
President
of India Mrs. Pratibha Devisingh Patil addressing at the
inauguration of the National Festival of Tribal Dances, ‘PRAKRITI’,
in New Delhi on March 16, 2011. Union Minister for Housing
and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Culture, Kum. Selja, Union
Minister for Tribal Affairs Kantilal Bhuria and Minister of
State for Tribal Affairs Mahadev S. Khandela are also seen.
(Photo:
Mukesh Kumar) |
|
|
|
|
Comments
|
Quick links