MESSENGER completes 4,000th orbit of Mercury
Monday, March 30, 2015 - 07:00
in Astronomy & Space
On March 25, the MESSENGER spacecraft completed its 4,000th orbit of Mercury, and the lowest point in its orbit continues to move closer to the planet than ever before. The orbital phase of the MESSENGER mission, which was originally designed to collect data for one Earth year, just completed its fourth year of operation around Mercury. The mission has received a final extension to allow scientists to gather specific low-altitude data over an additional several weeks.