After a seven-year-long adventure, NASA’s Messenger entered into orbit around the planet Mercury. After running our of fuel,the robotic spacecraft is expected to collide into Mercury any day now.
NASA produced this awesome video recreating Messenger’s orbit and includes real-time images of the planet’s surface.
The end is near for Messenger. NASA predicts the robotic spacecraft will collide with Mercury at around 3:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Thursday, April 30th. Travelling at exponential speeds, the collision will add a new crater to the planet’s scarred face.
In its lifetime, Messenger embarked on an adventure of more than eight billion kilometres that included 15 trips around the sun. The dying spacebot finally slipped into orbit around Mercury on March 18th, 2011.
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