A week ago, the MESSENGER spacecraft transmitted to here the first high-resolution image of Mercury by a spacecraft in over 30 years, since the three Mercury flybys of Mariner 10 in 1974 and 1975.
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MESSENGER’s Wide Angle Camera (WAC), part of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS), is equipped with 11 narrow-band color filters, in contrast to the two visible-light filters and one ultraviolet filter that were on Mariner 10’s vidicon camera.
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By combining images taken through different filters in the visible and infrared, the MESSENGER data allow Mercury to be seen in a variety of high-resolution color views not previously possible.
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The navigation team is lead by KinetX, Inc. of Tempe, AZ. KinetX is the first private company to be responsible for navigation of a NASA deep space mission.
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> boomshanka > “Call me a communist but i’m not sure i like the fact commercial interests are getting involved in this sort of expedition – democratically elected governments sure, be my guest, but McCompany? Harks to me of the Dutch East Indies ventures – discover, take control, plunder . But how many governments have that sorta cash? Well if they weren’t too busy fighting stoopid wars…”

Alobar