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NASAs Mercury probe set for death plunge
Two weeks from now, the first-ever NASA spacecraft to orbit Mercury will take a dramatic death plunge into the innermost planet of the solar system. Nearly out of fuelT, the Messenger probe will hit Mercury\'s surface at 14,080 km per hour, creating a crater about 52 feet across. It is the second spacecraft to study mercury up close. NASA\'s Mariner 10 probe flew by Mercury three times in 1974 and 1975,
Washington: Two weeks from now, the first-ever NASA spacecraft to orbit Mercury will take a dramatic death plunge into the innermost planet of the solar system. Nearly out of fuelT, the Messenger probe will hit Mercury's surface at 14,080 km per hour, creating a crater about 52 feet across. It is the second spacecraft to study mercury up close. NASA's Mariner 10 probe flew by Mercury three times in 1974 and 1975, “Messenger's grave could help researchers better understand Mercury's rates of space weathering which tends to turn bright, freshly exposed materials dark,” added Sean Solomon, mission's principal investigator.
Mercury is covered by craters. Ground-based instruments will not be able to monitor the Messenger crater. However, the BepiColombo Mercury probe -- a joint European-Japanese Veffort due to launch in 2017 and arrive in orbit around Mercury in 2024 -- can study it. The Messenger's observations have helped scientists construct the best-ever maps of the planet.
The spacecraft began orbiting Mercury in March 2011. The four-year mission was blessed with many scientific findings, including one in 2012 that provided compelling support for the hypothesis that Mercury harbours abundant frozen water and other volatile materials in its permanently shadowed polar craters.
