![NASA's Cassini spacecraft chronicles the change of seasons as it captures clouds concentrated near the equator of Saturn's largest moon, Titan.](/sites/default/files/2023-02/110317-full.jpg)
Press Release
Mar 17, 2011
Cassini Sees Seasonal Rains Transform Titan’s Surface
As spring continues to unfold at Saturn, April showers on the planet’s largest moon, Titan, have brought methane rain to its equatorial deserts, as revealed in images captured by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. This is the first time scientists have obtained current evidence of rain soaking Titan’s surface at low latitudes.
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Press Release
Mar 16, 2011
MESSENGER On Autopilot for Orbit Insertion
MESSENGER is now on autopilot, faithfully executing a detailed set of instructions required to achieve its historic rendezvous with Mercury tomorrow night.
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Press Release
Mar 15, 2011
MESSENGER Primed for Mercury Orbit
After more than a dozen laps through the inner solar system and six planetary flybys, NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft will move into orbit around Mercury on at around 9 p.m. EDT on March 17, 2011. The durable spacecraft — carrying seven science instruments and fortified against the blistering environs near the Sun — will be the first to orbit the innermost planet.
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Press Release
Mar 10, 2011
NASA Media Telecon Previews First Spacecraft to Orbit Mercury
NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, March 15, to discuss the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury.
![This image shows the context for orbital observations of exposed rocks that had been buried an estimated 5 kilometers (3 miles) deep on Mars.](/sites/default/files/2023-02/110309-full.jpg)
Press Release
Mar 9, 2011
Some of Mars’ Missing Carbon Dioxide May Be Buried
Rocks on Mars dug from far underground by crater-blasting impacts are providing glimpses of one possible way Mars’ atmosphere has become much less dense than it used to be.
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Press Release
Mar 7, 2011
Ten Days From Mercury Orbit Insertion
Ten days from now – on March 17 EDT – the MESSENGER spacecraft will execute a 15-minute maneuver that will place it into orbit about Mercury, making it the first craft ever to do so, and initiating a one-year science campaign to understand the innermost planet.
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Press Release
Feb 18, 2011
A Solar System Family Portrait, From the Inside Out
The MESSENGER spacecraft has captured the first portrait of our Solar System from the inside looking out. Comprised of 34 images, the mosaic provides a complement to the Solar System portrait — that one from the outside looking in — taken by Voyager 1 in 1990.
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Press Release
Feb 17, 2011
One Month Until Mercury Orbit Insertion
After more than a dozen laps through the inner solar system, NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft will move into orbit around Mercury on March 17, 2011. The durable spacecraft — carrying seven science instruments and fortified against the blistering environs near the Sun — will be the first to orbit the innermost planet.
![Victor McCrary](/sites/default/files/2023-02/110216_Victor_McCrary.jpg)
Press Release
Feb 16, 2011
Black Engineers Name APL’s McCrary Top Scientist
Victor McCrary, Science and Technology Business Area executive at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., will receive the Scientist of the Year award at the 2011 Black Engineer of the Year national conference in Washington, D.C., Feb. 17–19.
![Cyril J. O'Brien](/sites/default/files/2023-02/110202_Cy_OBrienBW.jpg)
Press Release
Feb 2, 2011
Cyril J. O’Brien — Oldest Marine War Correspondent — Dies at 92
Cyril John O’Brien, career journalist, oldest known living Marine Corps war correspondent, and former media relations head at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, died January 31 at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Md., from natural causes associated with coronary heart disease. He was 92.