The Mars rover Spirit is enthralling people on Earth as it just begins its mission, but the next planetary mission will be to Mercury and the MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) website provides all the information about the mission and the planet. There are ten animation movies (three in Quicktime, seven in MPEG-WindowMedia). These might take a little time to open for anyone at home with a dial-up service. There are numerous images of the spacecraft and these are presented in both Browse form (44-54KB) and JPEG (605KB-1.1MB). The Browse version will make it easier for those with slower Internet connections. The latest Daily Movie was from just three days before this review, so clearly the site is begin kept up-to-date. This is also indicated when clicking on the "live" web cam image, which was indeed live, unlike many other live web cams which are not.
One interesting feature is the "Make your own spacecraft" link, which brings you to a PDF file so you can make a paper model of the spacecraft.
The Education and Public Outreach Section is useful for teachers providing a wealth of resources, unfortunately the areas for students and the public are under construction.
One minor shortcoming of the site was the difficulty I found in trying to locate the launch date. Had the spacecraft already been launched or if not, when would it be launched? (Of course, I knew it had not been launch, a fact confirmed again by the live web cam images of technicians working on the spacecraft.) However, finding the launch date should be easier. The Mission Design page does not provide this, which it should. In FAQs the first question and answer answers this, "The spacecraft is scheduled to launch during a 12-day window that opens May 11, 2004, aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida."
Despite this minor issue, this site is the site for information on the next step of planetary exploration.
