Nasa Messenger’s Mercury crash – but with one last pic

Above: an artist’s impresson of the Messenger craft at Mercury

After more than 10 years in space, the Messenger (which stands for Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging) spacecraft, succumbed to Mercury’s gravity and crashed to earth – making a crater estimated to be 16 metres in diameter.

Above: the last photograph taken by the Messenger craft

Mercury’s very thin atmosphere means the Messenger craft did not slow as it plummeted to the surface of the planet, resulting in the high speed and large crater.

The Messenger mission has acquired over 250,000 images as well as other datasets during its 10-year mission.

It entered Mercury’s orbit in 2011, and was only expected to survive for one year. However, earlier this week the craft ran out of propellant and it was pulled to Mercury’s surface.

Above: image of the surface of Mercury. Messenger is believed to have crashed in the bottom left hand corner

It entered Mercury’s orbit in 2011, and was only expected to survive for one year. However, earlier this week the craft ran out of propellant and it was pulled to Mercury’s surface.

The Messenger spacecraft is the first ever to orbit Mercury and used seven scientific instruments to explore the origins of the solar system’s innermost planet.