NASA's Mercury Orbiter Messenger Crashes Leaving a Massive Crater

NASA's Mercury probe 'Messenger' not only enlightened scientists with trove of information about the planet but also left its impact when in crashed, in the form of a massive crater.

According to Fox News, Messenger ran out of power on Thursday and slammed into Mercury at 3.26 pm ET, ending a highly successful mission that began 11 years ago. The probe fell out of orbit and raced towards the planet's surface at 8,750 mph. Its crash is said to have left a 50 ft wide crater.

"Originally planned to orbit Mercury for one year, the mission exceeded all expectations, lasting for over four years and acquiring extensive datasets with its seven scientific instruments and radio science investigation. This afternoon, the spacecraft succumbed to the pull of solar gravity and impacted Mercury's surface. The image shown here is the last one acquired and transmitted back to Earth by the mission. The image is located within the floor of the 93-kilometer-diameter crater Jokai. The spacecraft struck the planet just north of Shakespeare basin," NASA said.

Messenger's task was to send just a couple of thousand of photos of the planet but it ended up sending more than two hundred thousand images. It also helped understand the magnetic field and the polar ice features of the planet.