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NASA's Messenger falls from orbit into Mercury
(MENAFN- Arab News) CAPE CANAVERAL Florida: NASA's Messenger the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury is no more.
Messenger ended its four-year tour at the solar system's innermost planet with a crash landing. It plunged from orbit at a speed of more than 8750 mph and carved out a crater an estimated 52 feet across.
The spacecraft completed 4104 orbits of hot little Mercury and collected more than 277000 images.
Flight controllers confirmed Messenger's demise when it failed to emerge from behind the far side of planet about 14 minutes after the fact.
The only other spacecraft to visit Mercury was NASA's Mariner 10 back in the 1970s but that was a fly-by mission.
Messenger ended its four-year tour at the solar system's innermost planet with a crash landing. It plunged from orbit at a speed of more than 8750 mph and carved out a crater an estimated 52 feet across.
The spacecraft completed 4104 orbits of hot little Mercury and collected more than 277000 images.
Flight controllers confirmed Messenger's demise when it failed to emerge from behind the far side of planet about 14 minutes after the fact.
The only other spacecraft to visit Mercury was NASA's Mariner 10 back in the 1970s but that was a fly-by mission.
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