Messenger crater

Nasa’s Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging (Messenger) spacecraft has completed its mission around Mercury and crashed into the planet’s surface at speeds of 8,750mph.

Launched in August 2004, the Messenger spacecraft was placed into orbit in March 2011 has followed a path through the inner solar system.

According to the mission controllers at John’s Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Maryland, the crash has created a 50ft-wide crater on the planet’s surface.

Nasa’s deep space network (DSN) station in California has received no signal at the time the spacecraft would have emerged from behind the planet.

"The Messenger mission will continue to provide scientists with a bonanza of new results as we begin the next phase of this mission: analysing the exciting data already in the archives, and unravelling the mysteries of Mercury."

Nasa science mission directorate associate administrator John Grunsfeld said: "The Messenger mission will continue to provide scientists with a bonanza of new results as we begin the next phase of this mission: analysing the exciting data already in the archives, and unravelling the mysteries of Mercury."

Ground-based telescopes were unable to capture the moment of impact as the Messenger hit the side of Mercury facing away from the Earth.

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Due to Mercury’s proximity to the sun, which would damage optics, space-based telescopes also were unable to view the impact, Nasa said.

Messenger’s primary mission objectives were completed by March 2012. However, the mission was extended to gather unprecedented images and information about the planet.

The on-board instruments have accumulated critical information on Mercury’s crustal magnetic anomalies and ice-filled polar craters, among others.

With the Messenger mission, scientists have so far determined Mercury’s surface composition and geological history. They also found that the planet’s internal magnetic field is offset from its centre and that the polar deposits on Mercury are dominantly water ice.

Image: Messenger crashed into Mercury and created a 50ft-wide crater on the surface. Photo: courtesy of Nasa.