Messenger reveals Mercury this week on planetary radio. Hi everyone, welcome to Public Radio's travel show that takes you to the final frontier.

I'm at Kaplan. It happened exactly as planned. On January 14, the

messenger spacecraft made its first brief visit to our

solar system's innermost planet. It showed us part of that world never before seen up close,

and a few other parts that have changed little since they reviewed by the Mariner 10 Probe

more than three decades ago. We've got two special reports for you, the first from our Bruce Betts, who was at the

Applied Physics Lab in Maryland, as the messenger team waited for word of success.

Then we'll get Emily Lochuvala's analysis of the spectacularly

detailed images that have already been returned. How can a beer can show us the way to affordable

space travel? Our regular commentator Bill Nye, the Science

Sky has that answer in just a minute or so. And Bruce Bats will return to tell us where we should

look for Mercury and its planetary sisters in tonight's sky, along with the new space trivia

contest and other goodies.

It has been another busy week in our favorite universe where simply everything seems to happen.

Get out your acronym notebooks.

We've got a new entry for you.

It's L-Cross-O-S.

NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite.

Elcross will launch later this year with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

It will split in two sending one piece to impact in one of the Moon's

permanently shaded polar craters.

The other part of the spacecraft will then fly through the plume kicked up by that deep impact,

...