Japan Sending Mirrorball to Mercury [Space]

Fresh from the (possible) success of its Hayabusa comet dust hoover, Japan is planning a new space mission-sending a rotating mirrored probe to the currently fashionable planet Mercury.

The mirrored surface of the JAXA craft should help it keep its core temperature all the way down to 140 degrees-that is chilly compared to the 320 degree heat the mirrors should withstand-allowing sensitive equipment like, er, cameras and stuff to determine there. The craft also rotates to keep cool, plus rather obviously gains much of its power through solar methods.

Scheduled to launch in 2014, it\’ll be bringing more joy to fans of photos of gray craters. [Telegraph]

Image Credit: NASA

Source

This post is tagged: Japan, mercury, Mirrorball, Sending, [Space]