Why is the Closest Planet Also the Most Difficult to Visit? | NASA's MESSENGER Mercury Probe

Why Mercury has only had one dedicated mission.

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Image Credits: NASA/Planetary Society/Space Engine

[vincephan]

I can't imagine the math required to calculate all of the fly bys and gravitational assists to pull off this mission, hats off to scientists/mathematicians.

[mononoke]

Wow, sending the messenger probe on a round trip around different planets in order to slow it down enough to enter Mercury's orbit is what I would call a very creative solution to a very tricky problem. Science in action!

[dragonsnipero]

Chen-wan L. Yen received a PhD in Theoretical Physics from MIT in 1964. She has been with Jet Propulsion Laboratory for over 40 years designing many NASA solar system exploration missions such as Voyager, Cassini, MAGELLAN, Stardust, and MESSENGER and more. Her expertise resides in trajectory optimization utilizing planet gravity assists with ballistic and electric propulsion systems.

[lukew]

Orbital mechanics will forever be that "magic" math to me. I did some very rudimentary orbital calculations in college involving launch and falling into a "simple" earth orbit, and I felt so lost while doing them. Props to anyone who understands them enough to design a mission like this!

[mhstrawn]

Yes, would be very interested in the science findings of the Messenger mission. I literally did not know this mission existed.

[LINKfromTHElegendOFz]

I love it when two separate space probe missions end up meeting eachother then working together, on one thing briefly.

[deathblade]

Can you imagine how frustrating and stressful it must have been whenever the satellite would just go off into safe mode and wonder if it's gonna be able to come back on or not? Like, just what would be at stake to lose such a piece of equipment. Being an astronomer truly is just playing with your heart for fun.

[TheExplosiveGuy]

What an amazing story the Messenger probe has, I had no idea the mission was so complex. You always hear about the popular missions like Juno or all the Mars explorers, but the oddball ones that go to "less interesting" places that don't have as much public interest can be just as if not cooler (or hotter in the Messenger's case lol) than the popular ones. Now I'm going to have to do some digging and find out more about the project, I'd really like to see some of those images...

[Danboi.]

Poor Mercury,
it's like the family member who lives close by but never get around to visiting.
I've never seen these pics or heard about this before.. sad.
Great vid, and Yes!

[justin_]

When you pass venus twice in one trip you start to wonder if you're going the wrong way.

[TommentSection]

Oh hey, that's my video at 0:39 :D. It's an honor. Love your content!

[TrueThanny]

I'm just going to say, right at the start, that everyone who has played _Kerbal Space Program_ and made it to Moho knows the answer.

It's delta V.

[laurachapple]

Absolutely want to know more about Mercury! Everybody thinks it's a boring planet but that's only because we know so little about it.

[BFDT-]

I did not know that by now all of Mercury has been photographed at hi-res. That's fantastic.

It would be interesting to know more.

[edwinbowen]

I love my mercury globe thanks for getting messenger to go to mercury!

[growlith]

Darn, that was an awesome video. Liked the pace and the depth of information served up in a way that was easy to take in without being bored. Great job!

[genxlibertarian]

"Now, if the science findings are somethi-"

YES!

[bobino]

It's really amazing what these people's minds can accomplish. Also, you read my mind when you said "if you'd like to a video with the discoveries..." I was just thinking that. Great video

[utterlyperplexed]

You’ve got a great voice for these. Soothing. 😃

[aelux]

I like the idea of a 2 part series on missions, one about why we went and how we got there, and another about what we found. It's a good format, looking forward to hearing more about MESSENGER!