MESSENGER
NASA's MESSENGER Discovery mission used one Earth, two Venus, and three Mercury gravity assists to become the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury, then mapped and characterized the planet for more than four years.
Identity
- Aliases
- MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and RangingMercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging
- Name
- MESSENGER
- Slug
- messenger
- Status
- completed
Details
- Description
- NASA's MESSENGER Discovery mission used one Earth, two Venus, and three Mercury gravity assists to become the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury, then mapped and characterized the planet for more than four years.
- End Date
- 2015-04-30
- Launch Site Id
- qh7422164wy3ft5y6fa3dk60ah8afkef
- Outcome
- Success. MESSENGER became the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury, globally mapped the planet, characterized its composition and magnetic field, documented its geological history, and confirmed that its polar deposits are dominated by water ice. After exhausting usable propellant, it completed the mission with a predicted impact on Mercury on April 30, 2015.
- Program
- Discovery Program
- Start Date
- 2004-08-03
- Vehicle Family Ids
- nd7g7w3by3wprt2t207cnfqq898aehapnd7thr9fthhnpe67q8a4qdc2jx8ap9e5
- Vehicle Id
- nh7wkq0tkxq6gh4tjtstpj5qdh8apsv6
Links
- Official Url
- https://science.nasa.gov/mission/messenger/
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- 7/17/2026, 12:21:30 AM
- Updated Time
- 7/17/2026, 12:23:04 AM
Other
- Affiliations
- Organization Id
- vh76vnx3yy1vy23j7zc3wk80wx7nhx5f
- Role
- Lead agency
- Organization Id
- vn7egd2rqcsc07cmkp421ewc1h8af313
- Role
- Mission management, spacecraft design and construction, operations
- Organization Id
- vn7ezg8fe999hq4397cscjcj0h8apdzd
- Role
- Principal investigator institution
- Organization Id
- jd7atcy8qz2mwf1b5bcd0ckw8s7kp4gj
- Role
- Launch vehicle provider