Spacecraft to Begin Journey to Mercury

[psychopomp]

AP
Spacecraft to Begin Journey to Mercury

32 minutes ago


By MARCIA DUNN, AP Aerospace Writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA (news - web sites) is about to embark on its hottest mission ever, to Mercury.



The Messenger spacecraft, to be launched next week, will be blasted by up to 700-degree heat as it orbits the tiny planet closest to the sun — so close that it would be as though 11 suns were beating down on Earth.

Remarkably, the only thing between the probe's room-temperature science instruments and the blistering sun and pizza-oven heat will be a handmade ceramic-cloth quilt just one-quarter of an inch thick.

"If it doesn't stay toward the sun, it will fry everything," said Neal Bachtell, mechanical technician and master quilter.

Bachtell used X-Acto blades to cut the 3M Nextel fabric and then — relying on sewing tips from his mother — used an industrial sewing machine to stitch the off-white pieces together into an 8-by-9-foot quilt, using Teflon-coated fiberglass thread. It was a nasty job; the itchy, ceramic-fiber cloth sheds and is bad to inhale.

-more


< http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=624&ncid=753&e=2&u=/ap/20040725/ap_on_sc/mercury_rising >

Here's to mom's the world over! :toast:

[leftyandproud]

1. nasa...state of the art technology...

perfected by Mom.

[NNadir]

2. This is a wonderful mission.

I wish the engineers and the human race all the luck in the world on it.

Such missions are rare bright spots on our nation's now blighted position in the world.