A spacecraft that carries a sensor built at the University of Michigan (among others) is about to crash into the planet closest to the sun — just as NASA intended, reports Phys.org:
MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging) launched from Earth in 2004, traveled 4.9 billion miles, and has been orbiting Mercury for the past three years, giving scientists an unprecedented look into both the history of the solar system and a planet they knew relatively little about. It will run out of fuel around April 30 and end its mission with a bang.
Without a thick atmosphere to slow the craft down and partially incinerate it, MESSENGER will keep accelerating as it barrels toward Mercury. It'll be traveling around 8,750 mph when it hits.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 20 2015, @06:01PM
> Mercury's Messenger Orbiter Plans Fiery Death
No it doesn't.
(Score: 2) by GungnirSniper on Monday April 20 2015, @07:55PM
Looks like the editors changed the title without mentioning their edit. At least we've not at this level yet:
Which is marginally faster than when Ethanol-Fueled plays highway bumpercars.
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by fishybell on Monday April 20 2015, @08:27PM
I am so disappointed that Fox News' official website isn't foxnews.lulz.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday April 20 2015, @08:56PM
That'll be $185k.
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(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Tuesday April 21 2015, @01:46PM
Are you saying that Messenger plans to come back?
I for one welcome our new Messenger overlord.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by morgauxo on Monday April 20 2015, @06:12PM
So?
Is that it's only sensor? I doubt they sent a whole spacecraft that far for just one sensor!
Is that sensor somehow pertinent to the crash?
Or is someone just a big UofM fan. Hey.. I think that's cool too. I didn't go there but I do spend a lot of time in the A2 area. I wouldn't expect the majority of readers at an international forum to care though! Not unless I am somehow missing why UofM or their sensor is pertinent to what the article is all about.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday April 20 2015, @06:19PM
It looks like Phys.org scraped a UofM press release.
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(Score: 2) by Jaruzel on Monday April 20 2015, @06:31PM
I only linked to Phys.org when I submitted (coz I'm lazy), so I'm going to hazard a guess that Takyon is the UofM fan :)
This is my opinion, there are many others, but this one is mine.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday April 20 2015, @06:54PM
Heh, I just slapped the link in there since UofM was mentioned, and lo and behold they had a page dedicated to MESSENGER.
Next time see if you can find the article Phys.org is stealing from and link that instead.
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(Score: 2) by Jaruzel on Monday April 20 2015, @11:06PM
Phys.org is one of my go-to sites - I didn't realise it wholesale steals articles :( I'll try harder next time, I promise.
This is my opinion, there are many others, but this one is mine.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 20 2015, @06:39PM
Right in the summary (emphasis mine):
A spacecraft that carries a sensor built at the University of Michigan (among others)
I'm a pedantic PITA, but you're complaining about this summary? Really? There are plenty of online publications that could use a good proofreader. You might want to apply for one of those jobs. </sarcasm>
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday April 20 2015, @06:48PM
Nope, I edited it after it was posted.
I think Phys.org republished the release from University of Michigan, which is why it is UofM-centric.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 20 2015, @07:12PM
D'oh!
(Score: 2) by Alfred on Monday April 20 2015, @06:31PM
I hate it when people invent acronyms like this. Way too much of a stretch to be clever. Might as well take letters from the middle of the words. This is worse than the title/acronyms that Congress comes up with for bills.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 20 2015, @06:49PM
Could have been worse...could have been recursive. GNU's Not Unix!!
(Score: 4, Funny) by Ryuugami on Monday April 20 2015, @06:59PM
A good collection of such acronyms can be found at Dumb Or Overly Forced Astronomical Acronyms Site (or DOOFAAS) [harvard.edu]. There are both great and atrocious ones :)
Some choice picks:
Also, I don't think it's worse than Congress: bill title acronyms are usually the opposite of the contents :)
If a shit storm's on the horizon, it's good to know far enough ahead you can at least bring along an umbrella. - D.Weber
(Score: 3, Funny) by Alfred on Monday April 20 2015, @08:15PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 20 2015, @08:20PM
No, the marketing department is busy sending out warnings to the landing zone on Mercury, so the residents can evacuate.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by aristarchus on Tuesday April 21 2015, @05:50AM
This make me sad. I proposed the heliocentric hypothesis in the Third Century BCE, and if only we had technology like this. We had to make do with pointy sticks, stuck in the ground at know points, nonetheless, but pointy sticks all the same. And now a probe orbiting the planet Hermes has reached the end of its life span, and this bickering over names is the best Soylentils can come up with? It makes me sad that I chose to migrate from the "other" site. But it is not much better there. Please, try to be respectful of the tools of our science, they serve us in ways that nothing else can, and we owe them our knowledge of the universe. Obligatory XKCD: http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/spirit.png [xkcd.com]