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--- transportation:space [2026/09/03 00:09] – [Solar Storm] timb
+++ transportation:space [2026/09/10 22:32] (current) – [Mercury] timb
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+==== Communication ====
+== Blue Origin wins NASA contract for telecommunications on Mars ==
+Can you hear me now?
+Anna Washenko - Updated: Sept. 2, 2026 3:38 pm EST
+NASA announced today that it has awarded Blue Origin the contract to develop the Mars Telecommunications Network. The company has taken a deal worth potentially $700 million to create a high-performance Mars telecommunications orbiter for the agency by December 31, 2028. Once operational, the orbiter will transmit "science data, imagery, navigation information, and critical mission communications for spacecraft operating on and around the planet."
+The space agency is using its Artemis program to explore the moon. Progress has been slow but resulted in a successful human crewed mission earlier this year, and those missions will serve as preparation to eventually send astronauts to Mars. NASA will need more data as it continues to work toward that goal, so having a reliable way to send that information from the Red Planet to the Blue Dot will be essential.
+Blue Origin has already worked with the space agency, securing a contract to build lunar landers at the start of this year. In May, the company's New Glenn rocket program took a setback after a launchpad explosion, but Blue Origin's CEO claimed repairs on the launchpad would be done by the end of 2026.
+Read More: https://www.engadget.com/2249162/blue-origin-wins-nasa-contract-for-telecommunications-on-mars/
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 https://gizmodo.com/dramatic-video-shows-the-closest-flyby-ever-of-mercury-2000498505
+== Scientists Drastically Underestimated How Much Mercury Has Shrunk ==
+A new estimate of Mercury's shrinkage shows that this planet may have contracted 10% to 30% more than previous research suggested.
+Ellyn Lapointe - September 10, 2026, 9:00 am ET
+Mercury, the littlest planet in our solar system (though Pluto apologists may beg to differ), is getting smaller by the day. In fact, it’s been slowly shriveling up ever since it formed roughly 4.5 billion years ago. A new analysis of its shrinkage, or “radial contraction,” throws earlier estimates into question.
+The findings, published today in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, suggest Mercury has shrunk a whopping 10% to 30% more than previous studies found. The new estimate equates to a loss of roughly 12 miles (19 kilometers) of total diameter since the planet formed.
+“Mercury’s radial contraction provided in previous works has been underestimated because of lack of consideration of recent geologies,” lead author Gaku Nishiyama, a planetary scientist at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Institute of Space Research, told Gizmodo in an email. By “recent geologies,” Nishiyama means geologically young impact craters and their ejected debris, which can obscure signs of the planet’s shrinkage.
+“Our study solved this point for the first time by using surface roughness of Mercury [to] successfully estimate how much radial contraction has been missed in previous works,” he explained.
+https://gizmodo.com/scientists-drastically-underestimated-how-much-mercury-has-shrunk-2000808810