NASA’s Messenger probe is set to crash into Mercury on Thursday snapping amazing shots of the solar system’s smallest planet as it moves towards destruction. The incredible close-up shots taken a day before impact show Mercury as never before seen. The appearance is psychadelic due to the Visual and Infrared Spectrometer (Virs) that has been programmed to accentuate craters and other features.
Launched ten years ago, the Messenger probe has been circling Mercury for four years and will be the first human probe so close to the planet. The probe has now run out of fuel and is set to crash onto the surface of Mars, speeding to its destruction at 8,750 miles an hour.
Despite the destruction of the probe and the fact that its demise appears to be something of an anti-climax, scientists hail the mission as a success. Discoveries include finding frozen water on Mercury, a surprise bearing in mind that the planet is so close to the Sun. Over the ice was an unexplained dark layer that needs to be further explored but could be carbon-rich compounds according to NASA’s estimations. The discovery that Mercury has shrunk by 7 km in its radius over the past four and a half billion years.
Ask me anything
Explore related questions
