Mosaic taken by Mariner 10.
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NASA
NASA Names Next Two Discovery Missions
News story originally written on July 9, 1999
NASA chose two new projects for its Discovery Program. This program is for cheap, scientific projects. They chose Messenger (the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging), and Deep Impact missions.
Messenger will send a spacecraft to Mercury to study the surface and interior. The mission will begin in 2004. The last probe to visit Mercury was Mariner 10 in 1975!
The second project, Deep Impact, will send a probe to Comet Tempel 1. It will crash into the comet. Scientists will study the inside of the comet, and a camera will take pictures. The crash will occur on July 4, 2005.
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