We're going back to Mercury!

by **ShellShock** » Tue Aug 03, 2004 7:50 am

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/08/03/space.mercury.ap/index.html

by **Buliwyf** » Tue Aug 03, 2004 10:05 am

wake me when HUMANS actually go

by **DocTrebor** » Tue Aug 03, 2004 10:09 am

like we're going to find anythings useful there.....

by **Colonel Ingus** » Tue Aug 03, 2004 11:13 am

like we're going to find anythings useful there.....

Well thats just it isn't it? We won't know until we go there.

by **jnkcrp** » Tue Aug 03, 2004 1:16 pm

I can see the headlines now.....probe lands on sun by mistake......but it was able to prove that mercury at one time did actually have rocks....

by **Ralph Wiggum** » Wed Aug 04, 2004 1:17 am

I love astronomy and space exploration, but I must say that Mercury does next to nothing for me as a destination. Of course that means they'll probably find something alien artifact there.

by **Mutant Enemy** » Wed Aug 04, 2004 1:20 am

They think they may find ice there on the dark side. Kinda makes you wonder about how many planets or moons have ice on them- it gets you wondering about other solar systems and whatnot. I'm a nerd for space exploration too.

by **Colonel Ingus** » Wed Aug 04, 2004 6:30 pm

They think they may find ice there on the dark side. Kinda makes you wonder about how many planets or moons have ice on them- it gets you wondering about other solar systems and whatnot. I'm a nerd for space exploration too.

I'm not sure about that. Mercury's surface facing the sun is hot enough to melt lead and the planet does rotate. No atmosphere whatsoever either so how any H2O would be retained is beyond me.

I want picture of lakes of molten lead! That would rock!

Also keep in mind that its in an orbit, using breaking methods, that won't get it there to 2011.

by **Spirit of Me** » Wed Aug 04, 2004 7:39 pm

bump....till 2011

by **Mutant Enemy** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 11:49 am

I'm not sure how they think they'll find ice there either myself, Ingus. I just heard it on the news. It'd be interesting to see if ice is on Mercury how it does stay there.

by **Colonel Ingus** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 2:27 pm

http://www.solarviews.com/eng/mercury.htm

It would appear that Mercury could not support water in any form. It has very little atmosphere and is blazing hot during the day, but in 1991 scientists at Caltech bounced radio waves off Mercury and found an unusual bright return from the north pole. The apparent brightening at the north pole could be explained by ice on or just under the surface. But is it possible for Mercury to have ice? Because Mercury's rotation is almost perpendicular to its orbital plain, the north pole always sees the sun just above the horizon. The insides of craters would never be exposed to the Sun and scientists suspect that they would remain colder than -161 C. These freezing temperatures could trap water outgassed from the planet, or ices brought to the planet from cometary impacts. These ice deposits might be covered with a layer of dust and would still show bright radar returns.

Hmm whoda thunkit. Guess we have to wait 6 years to find out if it is true or not.

by **King** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 3:36 pm

i think we should send arnold to Mars and get their atmosphere worked out.... those poor people over there w/ their shitty made domes that leak precious air...

I'm all about space exploration... raise taxes and send me to the moon alice.

We're going back to Mercury!

We're going back to Mercury!

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