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"Real World: Mercury's MESSENGER Reveals Mysteries"/NASA eClips

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This video from NASA eClips examines the planet Mercury and details of an ongoing mission named MESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging). For this mission, NASA launched a probe and guided it toward Mercury using a technique called “solar sailing.” The probe made three flybys and then settled into a permanent orbit. The probe is studying the make-up of the planet’s inner core and surface and measuring its magnetic field. Because Mercury and Earth share some similarities, including evidence of volcanism, scientists hope what they learn about Mercury’s evolution will improve their understanding of Earth.