Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
On August 3, 2014, the MESSENGER team celebrated the 10th anniversary of the spacecraft's launch. More details are in a news story from August 1, 2014. This graphic provides some statistics about the mission as of August 1, 2014.
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
Five depictions of the MESSENGER spacecraft
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
A depiction of the MESSENGER spacecraft is shown passing near the crater Hokusai and its extensive system of rays. Both the monochrome and enhanced color views of Mercury were obtained during MESSENGER's second Mercury flyby.
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
A depiction of the MESSENGER spacecraft is shown viewing the Rachmaninoff basin. Both the monochrome and enhanced color views of Mercury were obtained during MESSENGER's third Mercury flyby.
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
A depiction of the MESSENGER spacecraft is shown flying over Mercury's surface displayed in enhanced color. The crater ringed by bright orange is Calvino crater. The enhanced color imagery of Mercury was obtained during the mission's second Mercury flyby in 2008. Visit this page to learn more about this high resolution sequence of color imagery from Mercury flyby 2.
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
A depiction of the MESSENGER spacecraft is shown flying over Mercury's surface displayed in enhanced color. The enhanced color imagery of Mercury was obtained during the mission's second Mercury flyby in 2008. Visit this page to learn more about this high resolution sequence of color imagery from Mercury flyby 2.
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
A depiction of the MESSENGER spacecraft is shown with monochrome and enhanced color views of Mercury obtained by Mariner 10 in 1974-75.
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
Shown here is an artist's impression of the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft in orbit at Mercury. MESSENGER launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on Aug. 3, 2004, and began an orbital study of Mercury in March 2011. Though the Sun is up to 11 times brighter at Mercury than we see on Earth and surface temperatures can reach 450 degrees Celsius (about 840 degrees Fahrenheit), MESSENGER's instruments operated at room temperature behind a sunshade of heat-resistant ceramic fabric. The spacecraft passed only briefly over the hottest parts of the surface, limiting exposure to heat reradiated from the planet.
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
Shown here is an artist's impression of the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft as it leaves Earth, following its Aug. 3, 2004 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. aboard a Delta II rocket. The spacecraft flew past Earth once, Venus twice and Mercury three times before starting a yearlong orbital study of the innermost planet in March 2011.
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
Shown here is an artist's impression of the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft in orbit at Mercury. MESSENGER launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on Aug. 3, 2004, and began an orbital study of Mercury in March 2011. Though the Sun is up to 11 times brighter at Mercury than we see on Earth and surface temperatures can reach 450 degrees Celsius (about 840 degrees Fahrenheit), MESSENGER's instruments operated at room temperature behind a sunshade of heat-resistant ceramic fabric. The spacecraft passed only briefly over the hottest parts of the surface, limiting exposure to heat reradiated from the planet.
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
Shown here is an artist's impression of the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft in orbit at Mercury. MESSENGER launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on Aug. 3, 2004, and began an orbital study of Mercury in March 2011. Though the Sun is up to 11 times brighter at Mercury than we see on Earth and surface temperatures can reach 450 degrees Celsius (about 840 degrees Fahrenheit), MESSENGER's instruments operated at room temperature behind a sunshade of heat-resistant ceramic fabric. The spacecraft passed only briefly over the hottest parts of the surface, limiting exposure to heat reradiated from the planet.
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
Shown here is an artist's impression of a rupes (cliff) on Mercury. Long, steep cliffs that extend for hundreds of kilometers are seen on Mercury's surface in both Mariner 10 and MESSENGER images. These giant cliffs are believed to have formed when Mercury's interior cooled and the entire planet shrank slightly as a result.
From March 2003 to July 2004, the MESSENGER Webcam let us peek in on the progress of the spacecraft and the team that guided it to space. Updating once a minute, the camera captured MESSENGER's earliest days of integration and testing at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, through space environment tests at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and launch preparations near Kennedy Space Center, to the final moments before its move to the launch pad at Cape Canaveral
Air Force Station.
Click Open Gallery to see one of the weekly annotated images from the Webcam (highlighting an aspect of spacecraft testing or development) or one of the daily, monthly or "full build" time-lapse movies of MESSENGER's journey from development to launch. For information regarding the use of MESSENGER images, see the image use policy.
MESSENGER team members adjust the Mercury-bound spacecraft's ceramic-fabric sunshade before conducting vibration tests at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. The tests checked the spacecraft's structural integrity by simulating the rough ride atop a launch vehicle.
Neal Bachtell of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), Laurel, Md., attaches the middle section of the ceramic-fabric sunshade to the Mercury-bound MESSENGER spacecraft. At approximately 8 feet tall and 6 feet wide, the shade, made from the same materials that protect sections of the space shuttle and International Space Station, will keep MESSENGER's instruments at room temperature while the spacecraft orbits the planet closest to the sun.
Engineers prepare the MESSENGER spacecraft for a vibration test at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md., where the Mercury-bound NASA spacecraft was designed and built. Conducted on a vibration table, the test checks the spacecraft's structural integrity by simulating the rough ride atop a launch vehicle. MESSENGER's mirrored solar panels are folded in on the sides of the spacecraft; the long post in the center is the folded boom for MESSENGER's Magnetometer instrument.
Wrapped in a "double bag" of protective Llumalloy film, the MESSENGER spacecraft is loaded into a moving van at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. – where MESSENGER was designed and built – for the 20-mile trip to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. At Goddard, the Mercury-bound spacecraft underwent testing in preparation for its August 2004 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
Wrapped in a "double bag" of protective Llumalloy film, the MESSENGER spacecraft is loaded into a moving van at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. – where MESSENGER was designed and built – for the 20-mile trip to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. At Goddard, the Mercury-bound spacecraft underwent testing in preparation for its August 2004 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
Jack Ercol, MESSENGER lead thermal engineer from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, checks the condition of the spacecraft's ceramic-fabric sunshade after testing in the thermal-vacuum chamber at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. The tests showed that the sunshade, approximately 8 feet tall and 6 feet wide, will keep MESSENGER's instruments and systems at room temperature while the spacecraft orbits the planet closest to the Sun.
Engineers wrap the MESSENGER spacecraft in protective film before lifting it out of the thermal-vacuum chamber at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. The spacecraft endured five weeks of rigorous environmental tests in the chamber, including some where engineers baked the sunshade to about 350 degrees Celsius (about 660 degrees Fahrenheit). MESSENGER showed it could withstand the wide range of hot and cold temperatures faced on its journey to and mission around Mercury.
A crane lifts MESSENGER out of the thermal vacuum chamber at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, after the spacecraft completed five weeks of rigorous tests that showed it could withstand the wide range of hot and cold temperatures faced on its journey to and mission around Mercury. Four of MESSENGER’s seven science instruments reside inside the "ring" on the bottom deck of the spacecraft, which also connects MESSENGER to its launch vehicle.
Team members move the MESSENGER spacecraft, wrapped in protective film, out of its temporary clean room at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., toward the large moving van that carried it to Kennedy Space Center/Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., site of its August 2004 launch toward the first study of the planet Mercury from orbit.
Wrapped in protective film, the MESSENGER spacecraft is loaded into a moving van at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. for the drive to Kennedy Space Center/Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., site of its August 2004 launch toward the first study of the planet Mercury from orbit.
Against the clear, black sky, spotlights flooded the MESSENGER spacecraft aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket as it sat ready for liftoff, August 3, 2004, 2:15:56 a.m. EDT, from Launch Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The spacecraft flew by Earth, Venus and Mercury several times to burn off energy before making its final approach to the inner planet on March 18, 2011. MESSENGER was built for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.
A glow appears beneath the Boeing Delta II rocket as it began liftoff with its payload, the MESSENGER spacecraft. Liftoff occurred on August 3, 2004, at 2:15:56 a.m. EDT from Launch Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, beginning its seven-year, 4.9-billion-mile journey to the planet Mercury. The spacecraft flew by Earth, Venus and Mercury several times, as well as circled the Sun 15 times, to burn off energy before making its final approach to the inner planet on March 18, 2011. MESSENGER was built for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.
The MESSENGER spacecraft atop a Boeing Delta II rocket lifted off on August 3, 2004, at 2:15:56 a.m. EDT, from Launch Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, beginning its seven-year, 4.9-billion-mile journey to the planet Mercury. The spacecraft flew by Earth, Venus and Mercury several times, as well as circled the Sun 15 times, to burn off energy before making its final approach to the inner planet on March 18, 2011. MESSENGER was built for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.
The top of the Boeing Delta II rocket with its MESSENGER spacecraft in its nose, broke through the billows of smoke below as it lifted off on August 3, 2004, at 2:15:56 a.m. EDT from Launch Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station; the beginning of a seven-year, 4.9-billion-mile journey to the planet Mercury. The spacecraft flew by Earth, Venus and Mercury several times, as well as circled the Sun 15 times, to burn off energy before making its final approach to the inner planet on March 18, 2011. MESSENGER was built for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.
Wrapped in clouds of smoke, the Boeing Delta II rocket, with its MESSENGER spacecraft on top, climbed free as it lifted off on August 3, 2004, at 2:15:56 a.m. EDT from Launch Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station; the start of its seven-year, 4.9-billion-mile journey to the planet Mercury. The spacecraft flew by Earth, Venus and Mercury several times, as well as circled the Sun 15 times, to burn off energy before making its final approach to the inner planet on March 18, 2011. MESSENGER was built for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.
The tip of the Boeing Delta II rocket with its MESSENGER spacecraft on top breaks through the billows of smoke below as it lifts off on August 3, 2004, at 2:15:56 a.m. EDT from Launch Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station as it began a seven-year journey to the planet Mercury. The spacecraft flew by Earth, Venus and Mercury several times to burn off energy before making its final approach to the inner planet on March 18, 2011. MESSENGER was built for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
After traveling over 8 billion miles and orbiting Mercury for over four years, MESSENGER's operational mission came to an end on April 30, 2015, when the spacecraft depleted its fuel and impacted Mercury's surface. This graphic provides some statistics about the accomplishments of the mission.