Mercury Messenger NASA Info

In 1998, a study detailed a proposed mission to send an orbiting spacecraft to Mercury, as the planet was at that point the least-explored of the inner planets. In the years following the Mariner 10 mission, subsequent mission proposals to revisit Mercury had appeared too costly, requiring large quantities of propellant and a heavy lift launch vehicle. Moreover, inserting a spacecraft into orbit around Mercury is difficult, because a probe approaching on a direct path from Earth would be accelerated by the Sun’s gravity and pass Mercury far too quickly to orbit it. However, using a trajectory designed by Chen-wan Yen in 1985, the study showed it was possible to seek a Discovery-class mission by using multiple, consecutive gravity assist, ‘swingby’ maneuvers around Venus and Mercury, in combination with minor propulsive trajectory corrections, to gradually slow the spacecraft and thereby minimize propellant needs.


The Moon in the Birth Chart. The Moon is a very important planet in the Birth Chart as it is from this that we operate from through childhood and thus it becomes our foundation. Although we grow towards our Sun (our own 'mind') in adulthood, the Moon is a 'feeling, reflective' energy that picks up and stores early messages and experiences. Many of our behavioural and emotional problems can be uncovered by examining the role of Moon in the Natal Chart. The Moon informs and represents the way we habitually respond and react throughout life. It denotes our instinctive behaviour and the sign it is in describes its innate quality, whereas the house reflects the environmental influence. Any aspect to the Moon shows how it reacts. If for example it has a connection to Mars, then it may be more assertive in having its needs met. Moon with Venus will emphasise its female or creative quality and Moon in aspect to Mercury may be able to express its feeling in some communicative way.. Cassini is an unmanned spacecraft sent to the Saturn system. It is the fourth space probe to visit the ringed planet, as well as the first to enter orbit. It has been studying Saturn and its many moons since arriving there in 2004. Titan is certainly an exotic, fascinating, frigid oddball, that bears an eerie resemblance to the primordial Earth before life emerged and evolved on our planet (prebiotic). In fact, Titan is the only moon in our entire Solar System with a substantial atmosphere. It is also the only known world--other than Earth--where stable bodies of surface liquid exist.