Thursday, October 1, 2009

MESSENGER Does Its Last Slingshot...

The MESSENGER spacecraft successfully made the last of three planned “slingshot” maneuvers in preparation for Mercury orbital insertion on March 19, 2011.  On each of these slingshot flybys MESSENGER has gathered images (click to enlarge) and other science data.

MESSENGER is a great science and technology success story, for a tiny fraction of the cost of a manned space mission...

African Ingenuity...

Fascinating story about a African kid creating a wind-powered lighting system from scrounged materials such as shock absorber pistons, bicycle dynamos, and old engine fans...