NASA Spacecraft Confirms Theories, Sees Surprises at Mercury

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Source:  NASA RELEASE: 11-186

Excerpt: Data from MESSENGER [MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging spacecraft], the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury, is giving scientists important clues to the origin of the planet and its geological history  ...Two decades ago, Earth-based radar images showed deposits thought to consist of water ice and perhaps other ices near Mercury's north and south poles ... preserved on the cold, permanently shadowed floors of high-latitude impact craters. MESSENGER is testing this idea by measuring the floor depths of craters near Mercury's north pole. For more information about the mission, visit:http://www.nasa.gov/messenger

 messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php
 

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