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Messenger - Mission to Mercury

April 13, 2015

What began 11 years ago has now come to a spectacular end. At the end of April, the NASA space probe MESSENGER slammed into the surface of Mercury at 14,000 kilometers an hour after orbiting the planet for four years.

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Messenger am Merkur
Image: Reuters/NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

The mission sent back thousands of images and reams of valuable data, helping scientists improve predictions on both Mercury's geological history and its make-up. And in a surprise find, the probe also detected both water ice and organic molecules on the planet’s surface. Tomorrow Today looks back at one of the most successful space missions in recent history.

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Messenger am Merkur

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What began 11 years ago has now come to a spectacular end. At the end of April, the NASA space probe MESSENGER slammed into the surface of Mercury at 14,000 kilometers an hour after orbiting the small, terrestrial planet for four years.
ScienceMay 11, 201503:53 min