NASA unveils first Mercury maps from MESSENGER spacecraft

Credit: http://kenh14.vn/

While the image above may look like the surface of the Moon, it is actually Mercury, although the reasons are the same: impact craters. Images are from the MESSENGER (for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) spacecraft which ended its mission with an impact on the planet surface on 30 April, 2015.

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/228110-nasa-unveils-first-mercury-topography-maps-from-messenger-craft / NASA Mercury topography maps MESSENGER space craft spacecraft
MESSENGER Mercury explorer 4,104 orbits around the planet closest to our sun one-year mission MESSENGER expiry stayed in orbit around Mercury protected by its ceramic cloth sunshade ran out of fuel crash landed on the far side of the planet 30 April 2015 NASA analyzing data probe topographic maps Mercury’s surface MESSENGER MErcury Surface Space ENvironment GEochemistry Ranging characterize Mercury’s surface chemistry geological history exosphere quasi-atmosphere rarefied gas Mercury’s strangely paired core magnetosphere technological firsts first spacecraft to orbit Mercury first image Mercury MESSENGER 2011 extension extended mission March 2015 MESSENGER descended high eccentric orbit hover altitudes planet’s surface shallow orbit MESSENGER’s surface team execute seven orbit correction maneuvers LASER laser topographic images complete topographic map of Mercury planet surface elevation altitude lowest point 5km below its average elevation highest point 4km above average MESSENGER past volcanic activity extensive lavas APL Applied Physics Laboratory Nancy Chabot Instrument Scientist Mercury Dual Imaging System MDIS Mercury relatively young surface completely refreshed violence frequency volcanic activity. Consequently, no part of its surface is quite as old as the planet itself, making the project of mapping Mercury’s topography an ongoing challenge MESSENGER spent most of its time close to Mercury around the planet’s high northerly latitudes mean that, just like on Earth, in its pictures the sun is always low in the sky. Long shadows can obscure the real color characteristics of the rocks. So MESSENGER’s MDIS captured images planet’s north pole five narrow-band color filters 1100-lb spacecraft image 93-km Jokai crater MESSENGER source of data ESA’s BepiColombo spacecraft orbit Mercury MESSENGER crater scientists precise timepoint time point measure the rate surface weathering micrometeorites sculpt planet’s craterous surface MESSENGER chemistry specialist neutron spectrometer gamma spectroscopy data images Mercury’s surface chemistry elements geological ages /