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First altimetric data from Mercury

First altimetric data from Mercury
First altimetric data from Mercury During 11 minutes surrounding the closest approach of MESSENGER's first flyby of Mercury, the Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) fired laser shots at the surface to measure the topography. Comparisons with Arecibo radar maps—the only image data available for this region of Mercury—suggests that the MLA instrument will be very successful at mapping Mercury's topography. NASA / GSFC / Cornell / JHUAPL / CIW