Japan Aims for First Landing on Mercury

[Brooker]

TOKYO (AP) -- Japan and the European Space Agency are planning a joint mission that would be the first to land a probe on Mercury, a space official said Wednesday.

The mission entails three probes, two that would orbit and one that would land, to map the topography and study the origins of the closest planet to the sun, said Masahiko Sawabe of Japan's education and science ministry.

To escape the searing heat of Mercury's rocky surface, where temperatures hit 872 degrees in the day, the probe will land on the dark side of the planet during the Mercury night. Temperatures plunge to minus 361 degrees then.

Mankind is landing more and more probes onto our neighboring planets. The more countries get involved, the more that will be accomplished.

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