Public Lecture on #Mercury #Exploration RSVP: https://conta.cc/2qqdFI4 #FirstRock from the #Sun: 50 Years of #Mercury #Exploration by #Spacecraft. Prof. Dr. Sean C. Solomon Director, #Lamont-Doherty #EarthObservatory #Columbia #University #NationalMedalofScience #awarde Director #Carnegie's Department #Terrestrial #Magnetism, DC #nasa #astrobilogy Location: PlayaVistaLibrary, Meeting Room, 6400 #PlayaVista Dr. LosAngeles, CA 90094, Saturday, December 7, 2019, 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM #planet #Mercury is sufficiently close to #Sun to pose a major challenge to #spacecraft #exploration. The #Mariner 10 #spacecraft flew by #Mercury three times in 1974–75 but viewed less than half the surface. With the three #flybys of Mercury by the #MESSENGER #spacecraft in 2008–2009 and the insertion of that #probe into orbit about #Mercury in 2011, our understanding of the innermost #planet substantially improved. In its four years of orbital operations, #MESSENGER revealed a world more #geologically complex and #compositionally distinctive, with a more dynamic #magnetosphere and more diverse #exosphere–surface interactions, than expected. With the launch of the #BepiColombo #dual-orbiter mission in 2018, the scientific understanding of the innermost planet has moved another major step forward. https://www.instagram.com/p/B5uIxuJgPHF/?igshid=dkb8epmmoyo6