Mercury Systems is a technology company serving the aerospace and defense industries, acting as a manufacturer of open architecture computer hardware and software. They provide secure embedded processing modules, avionics mission computers, rugged servers, and trusted microelectronics for space applications. Mercury Systems has over 40 years of experience developing innovative, space-qualified products, including RF and microwave components, and solid-state data recorders, partnering with organizations like NASA and BlueHalo (for U.S. Space Force programs). Their products are utilized in satellite communications, launch vehicles, and programs like the Mars Rovers and EMIT.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
Project Mercury's Redstone rocket burned ethanol mixed with water as propellant.
Transfer between the Mercury capsule and the McDonnell laboratory module was via an external inflatable pressurized tunnel.
BELA's elevation measurements will enable detailed three-dimensional reconstructions of Mercury's topography to help refine models of tectonic deformation and surface composition.
The research team applied deep learning techniques to about 100,000 high-resolution images from NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft taken during its orbital mission from 2011 to 2015 to produce the first systematic inventory of Mercury's slope lineae.
SIMBIO SYS, an integrated imaging and spectroscopic system led by the INAF principal investigator in Padua, will deliver high-resolution images and stereo data of Mercury's surface on BepiColombo.
The concentration of slope lineae in thermally stressed, sun-facing crater environments indicates that solar heating is an important trigger for processes that enhance volatile escape from near-surface layers on Mercury.
The automated inventory mapped the global distribution and shapes of roughly 400 bright streaks (slope lineae) on Mercury that had not been comprehensively cataloged before.
ENA will map interactions between Mercury's surface, its exosphere, and the solar wind to complement geological and atmospheric measurements.
Geostatistical analysis of the new inventory shows that Mercury's slope lineae occur preferentially on sun-facing slopes inside relatively young impact craters that cut through thick volcanic deposits into underlying volatile-rich bedrock.
The joint ESA and JAXA BepiColombo mission is en route to Mercury carrying an advanced payload that includes contributions from the University of Bern.
The BepiColombo Laser Altimeter (BELA), designed and built in part at the Physics Institute of the University of Bern, will operate from an orbit roughly 1,000 kilometers above Mercury's surface to measure elevations with about 10 centimeter precision.
The University of Bern contributed the ion optical system for STROFIO, a NASA mass spectrometer on BepiColombo that will measure the composition of Mercury's extremely thin atmosphere.
Fracture networks created by original impact events on Mercury likely provide pathways that allow volatile-rich material from deeper levels to reach the surface.
Discoveries of volcanic craters and hollows by the MESSENGER mission indicate Mercury has experienced relatively recent geological activity.
Impact cratering generates fractures in Mercury’s superficial layer that can become pathways for volatiles to escape from deeper layers.
The research team mapped the global distribution and morphological properties of about 400 bright slope streaks (lineae) on Mercury.
The SIMBIO-SYS instrument will provide compositional data for Mercury’s surface and lineae that are currently largely missing or insufficient.
MESSENGER observed Mercury from 2011 to 2015 and is the only spacecraft to have visited the planet so far.
Mercury’s surface experiences an approximate 600-degree Celsius temperature swing between its day side and night side.
Mercury has an almost non-existent atmosphere and a solar day that lasts 176 Earth days.