Frontpage » Tag » messenger

News tagged with messenger

Epic volcanic activity flooded Mercury's north polar region

(PhysOrg.com) -- Ever since the Mariner 10 mission in 1974 snapped the first pictures of Mercury, planetary scientists have been intrigued by smooth plains covering parts of the surface. Some suspected past ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Sep 29, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (6) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Messenger orbital data confirm theories, reveal surprises

On March 18, 2011, the MESSENGER spacecraft entered orbit around Mercury to become that planet's first orbiter. The spacecraft's instruments are making a complete reconnaissance of the planet's geochemistry, ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jun 16, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (16) | comments 24 | with audio podcast

Atomic-scale structures of ribosome could help improve antibiotics

(PhysOrg.com) -- It sounds like hype from a late-night infomercial: It can twist and bend without breaking! And wait, there's more: It could someday help you fend off disease!

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created May 19, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Scientists observe single gene activity in living cells

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have for the first time observed the activity of a single gene in living cells. In an unprecedented study, published in the April 22 online edition ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Apr 21, 2011 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

NASA spacecraft now circling Mercury -- a first

For the first time, Earth has a regular orbiting eye-in-the-sky spying on the solar system's smallest and strangest planet, Mercury.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Mar 18, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (16) | comments 5

Scientists solve long-standing mystery of protein 'quality control' mechanism

Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have solved a long-standing mystery of how cells conduct "quality control" to eliminate the toxic effects of a certain kind of error in protein production. The findings may lead ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Sep 12, 2010 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (8) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

New revelations about Mercury's volcanism, magnetic substorms, exosphere from MESSENGER (w/ Video)

(PhysOrg.com) -- Analysis of data from MESSENGER's third and final flyby of Mercury in September 2009 has revealed evidence of younger volcanism on the innermost planet than previously recognized, new information ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jul 15, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (12) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

The language of RNA decoded: Study reveals new function for pseudogenes and noncoding RNAs

The central dogma of molecular biology, as proposed in 1970 by Francis Crick and James Watson, holds that genetic information is transferred from DNA to functional proteins by way of messenger RNA (mRNA). This suggests that ...

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Jun 23, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (11) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

MS study suggests key role of environmental factor in the disease

Scientists are reporting what they say is compelling evidence that some powerful non-heritable, environmental factor likely plays a key role in the development of multiple sclerosis.

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Apr 28, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Discovery of cellular 'switch' may provide new means of triggering cell death, treating disease

A research team led by the University of Colorado at Boulder has discovered a previously unknown cellular "switch" that may provide researchers with a new means of triggering programmed cell death, findings ...

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Mar 11, 2010 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (9) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists crash test DNA's replication machinery

(PhysOrg.com) -- Important molecular machines routinely crash into one another while plying their trades on DNA. New research shows that the enzymes that copy DNA before cell division, called replisomes, are the kings of ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Feb 10, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (9) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Model suggests how life's code emerged from primordial soup

(PhysOrg.com) -- In 1953, Stanley Miller filled two flasks with chemicals assumed to be present on the primitive Earth, connected the flasks with rubber tubes and introduced some electrical sparks as a stand-in for lightning. ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Aug 07, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (20) | comments 15

A new lead for autoimmune disease

A drug derived from the hydrangea root, used for centuries in traditional Chinese medicine, shows promise in treating autoimmune disorders, report researchers from the Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine and the Immune ...

Medicine & Health / Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

created Jun 04, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (13) | comments 5

Magnetic Tornadoes Could Liberate Mercury's Tenuous Atmosphere

(PhysOrg.com) -- As the closest planet to the sun, Mercury is scorching hot, with daytime temperatures of more than 800 degrees Fahrenheit (approximately 450 degrees Celsius). It is also the smallest rocky ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jun 02, 2009 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (6) | comments 0

Magnesium detected in MESSENGER flyby of Mercury (w/Video)

NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft served up another curveball to a University of Colorado at Boulder team after a second flyby of the hot inner planet Oct. 6 detected magnesium -- an element created inside exploding ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Apr 30, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (6) | comments 1

MESSENGER

The MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) space probe is a robotic NASA spacecraft in orbit around the planet Mercury. The 485-kilogram (1,070 lb) spacecraft was launched aboard a Delta II rocket in August 2004 to study the chemical composition, geology, and magnetic field of Mercury. It became the second mission after 1975's Mariner 10 to reach Mercury successfully when it made a flyby in January 2008, followed by a second flyby in October 2008, and a third flyby in September 2009. MESSENGER is furthermore the first spacecraft ever to orbit Mercury.

The instruments carried by MESSENGER were tested on a complex series of flybys – the spacecraft flew by Earth once, Venus twice, and Mercury itself three times, allowing it to decelerate relative to Mercury with minimal fuel. MESSENGER successfully entered Mercury's orbit on 18 March 2011, and reactivated its science instruments on 24 March, returning the first photo from Mercury orbit on 29 March. MESSENGER's formal science data collection mission began on 4 April 2011.

For more information about MESSENGER, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.