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Planetary Radio • May 05, 2015

Sean Solomon on the Climactic End of the MESSENGER Mission to Mercury

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Sean Solomon

Principal Investigator for MESSENGER for Columbia University

We open with the countdown to destruction—the MESSENGER spacecraft’s impact on Mercury ended its spectacularly successful mission. Principal Investigator Sean Solomon joins us immediately after this big finish. Emily Lakdawalla adds her congratulations for the MESSENGER team, and shares exciting new images of Pluto from New Horizons. “May the fourth be with you,” says Bruce Betts on this week’s post-Empire, pre-Chapter 7 What’s Up segment.

Artist’s concept of MESSENGER at Mercury
Artist’s concept of MESSENGER at Mercury A depiction of the MESSENGER spacecraft is shown flying over Mercury's surface displayed in enhanced color. The crater ringed by bright orange is Calvino crater. The enhanced color imagery of Mercury was obtained during the mission's second Mercury flyby in 2008.Image: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Carnegie Institution of Washington
MESSENGER mission facts
MESSENGER mission facts Image: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Carnegie Institution of Washington

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