Why is the space probe MESSENGER so special?

Messenger space probe to mercury

MESSENGER (Mercury Surface Space Environment Geochemistry and Ranging ), is a US spacecraft orbiting the planet Mercury. This spacecraft was launched in August 2004 to study Mercury's chemical composition, geology, and magnetic field.

MESSENGER became the second mission to Mercury. after Mariner 10 in 1975. MESSENGER successufully entered Mercury's orbit on March 17th, 2011. It sent the first photo from Mercury's orbit on March 29th. On March 17th 2012, having collected about 100,000 images, MESSENGER ended its one- year primary mission, and entered an extended mission scheduled to last until March 2013.

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Why it is said that the surface of Mercury looks like Moon?

The surface of Mercury is similar to the surface of our Moon. The photos of Mercury taken by the space probe Mariner- 10 brought home this similarity. Mercury contains huge Multi- ring basins, and many lava flows.

Mercury is Pockmarket with craters. The craters range in size from 100 meters, to 1300 kilometers. Some are young, with sharp rims and bright rays extending from them. Others are highly degraded, with rims that have been smoothed by the bombardment of meteorites.

The impact of meteorites produced concentric mountain rings three kilometers high, and threw out materials 600 to 800 kilometers across the planet. After the impact, the crater was partially filled with lava flows.

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what would the view from Mercury be like?

The sky over Mercury is always black. Mercury has no atmosphere to scatter light. If Man were to land on Mercury, he would see a giant Sun. The Sun would appear two and a half times larger than on the Earth, because Mercury is closer to the sun. He may see in Mercury's sky, the cream colored Venus, and the blue colored Earth.

The continual bombarding by meteorites have eroded the rolling, dust colored hills of Mercury. Fault- cliffs rise to heights of several kilometers, and extend for hundreds of kilometers. Craters dot the surface. The surface of Mercury is strangely similar to the surface of the Moon.

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What do we know about the craters of Mercury?

Craters, old and young pockmark the surface of Mercury. the youngest craters on Mercury are bright. They are surrounded by material thrown out by the force of the meteorite impact. Inter- crater plains lie between the main craters of Mercury. Inter-crater plains are older, smoother areas dotted with small craters.

Secondary craters are caused by the debris from the main meteorite impact. The secondary craters of Mercury lie closer to the main craters than on the Moon, because of Mercury's stronger gravity.

Caloris Basin is the largest one among the craters on Mercury. It resembles the maria areas of the Moon. there are no known volcanic craters on Mercury.

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Why is the North Pole of Mercury special?

When scientists bounced radio waves off Mercury in 1991, they received an unusual bright return from the North Pole. Scientists concluded that the radio waves bounced off ice, just under the surface of the North Pole. 

How could such a hot planet harbour ice? Mercury's rotation is almost perpendicular to its orbital plane, So the North Pole always sees the Sun just above the horizon. The insides of its craters would never be exposed to the Sun, and scientists suspect that they would remain very cold.

The freezing temperatures would favor the trapping of water out- gassed from the planet, or ice brought to the planet from impacts with comets. These ice deposits might be covered with a layer of dust, but they would still show bright radar returns.

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