The total distance travelled by MESSENGER from launch to orbit insertion is ~53 AU, the distance from Earth to the outer edge of the Kuiper belt. All this just to travel the 0.6 AU from Earth to Mercury. It's a bit boggling, really.

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There is a growing tendancy to think of Man as a rational, thinking being, which is absurd.- Marvin the Martian.

It's gotten to the point where careful investigation is needed just to tell parody from reality. I think that means reality is broken.- Noclevername.