Veiny green 'scum' meteorite may be first visitor from Mercury

The escape velocity (the speed needed to get out of a planet's gravity well) of Mercury is 4.3 km/s, less than that of Mars, and Irving postulates that the meteor formed as "scum" on top of a magma field and was ejected by either a volcanic explosion or impact from another body.But all this is going to remain in the realms of hypothesis until we get more data back from Mercury, Irving explained. The Messenger probe, our first to the planet, has now completed its primary mission of mapping the planet's surface, and NASA is trying to get funding to keep the program running."We now have a healthy spacecraft in orbit around a planet that will not be visited by spacecraft again for more than 10 years," said principal investigator Sean Solomon of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory last month."Our scientific plans for a second extended mission build on past discoveries, can be accomplished with planned orbital observations, span an unprecedented phase of the solar cycle, and include extraordinarily low-altitude campaigns that will offer spectacular new views of Mercury's surface and near-surface environment. We hope that NASA will support the continued investigation of the most enigmatic of the inner planets."The Messenger probe has sent back some remarkable data, including the existence of numerous volcanoes on the rocky crust, the discovery of ice in polar craters that close to the Sun, and a very sweet but mathematically-probable smiley face on the planet's surface. It'll be at least a decade before another mission is sent to Mercury, assuming funds can be found.Villagers participate in the traditional game of bottle kicking at Hallaton, Leicestershire. The game consists of the two teams made up of the villagers of Hallaton and their neighbours from Medbourne taking turns to get three barrels across two streams a mile apart, by any means possible.