Messenger Mission Set To Crash

Nasa’s spacecraft is expected to crash into Mercury at 20:46 BST on Thursday, ending the Messenger Mission as it reach its explosive conclusion

18:38 30 April 2015

After more than a decade in space, Nasa’s messenger mission is about to end as the spacecraft closes in on Mercury for crash-landing. Making its final powered manoeuvre on 28 April, the Messenger has far exceeded its primary mission plan of one year in orbit. It is currently losing altitude but is expected to hit at 8,750mph. 

 

Messenger’s fuel has been completely spent, extending the flight as far as possible. During its twice-extended mission, the spacecraft was able to transformed our understanding of Mercury. It has sent back 10 terabytes of scientific measurements and more than 270,000 images. Among its findings include evidence of water ice hiding in the planet’s shadowy polar craters. It also discovered that Mercury’s magnetic field is bizarrely off-centre. 

 

Jim Raines, the instrument scientist on the craft's FIPS instrument (Fast Imaging Plasma Spectrometer) and a physicist at the University of Michigan, said: "If you could see that, it would be a real spectacle. It would cross the horizon in just a second or two, flying low overhead at ten times the speed of a supersonic fighter."