THE UNIVERSAL
Thursday April 30, 2015 5:33 PM
Messenger crashed to the ground from orbit at a higher speed 14,000 kilometers per hour and created a crater about 16 meters in diameter. The spacecraft orbited 4,104 times a small planet Mercury and collected more than 277,000 images
, said AP.
The mission controllers confirmed that Messenger crashed as planned when he did not leave the dark side of the planet, about 14 minutes after the occurrence.
The only ship that had been on Mercury before Messenger was Mariner, in the 1970s was launched by NASA, but the mission went through the planet without going into orbit.
“Today We give you a fond farewell to one of the toughest and most successful in exploring our neighboring planets ships, “said the scientist Sean Solomon, director of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University.
Solomon said Thursday a statement that the probe Messenger implanted the record for planetary reconnaissance flights-a time for the Earth, Venus twice and Mercury three times before entering the orbit and survive mercurial- “both punishment as an extreme heat radiation dose “to exceed expectations.
Mission controllers were able to keep the spacecraft in orbit a couple of extra weeks using helium gas whose original function was not the fuel. But finally the gas tank was emptied and the relentless pull of gravity brought down to Messenger .
Mercury is the last of the rocky planets in our solar system Mars and Venus well-counting to be contaminated by humans.
The mission of 427 million dollars from the Messenger began with a launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 2004 . The Johns Hopkins University took over all by NASA.
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