Acronym
<...one of the most bloated acronyms ever seen.
"MESSENGER - which stands for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging"
Looks like a case of reverse engineering to me: pick a word evoking Mercury, Winged Messenger of the Gods...
btw, Tom, have you seen the comic Spy Boy? Good art, good tongue-in-cheek story... the two sides (good/evil) are S.H.I.R.T.S. and S.K.I.N.S.
Fox (recalling The Man from U.N.C.L.E.)