MESSENGER Program
NASA’s MESSENGER program sent the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury. Launched on 3 August 2004, MESSENGER entered Mercury orbit in March 2011, mapped and studied the planet’s surface, composition, geology, magnetic field, and polar volatiles, and ended with a planned impact on 30 April 2015 after more than four years in orbit.
Identity
- Aliases
- MESSENGERMErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and RangingMercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and RangingMESSENGER Mission
- Domains
- spaceflight
- Name
- MESSENGER Program
- Status
- completed
- Types
- explorationscienceresearchoperations
Details
- Description
- NASA’s MESSENGER program sent the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury. Launched on 3 August 2004, MESSENGER entered Mercury orbit in March 2011, mapped and studied the planet’s surface, composition, geology, magnetic field, and polar volatiles, and ended with a planned impact on 30 April 2015 after more than four years in orbit.
- End Date
- 2015-04-30
- Leads
- Participants
- -
- Start Date
- 2004-08-03
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- August 13, 2026 at 14:28:25 UTC
- Updated Time
- August 13, 2026 at 14:28:25 UTC
Other
- Official Urls
- https://science.nasa.gov/mission/messenger/https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-completes-messenger-mission-with-expected-impact-on-mercurys-surface/https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-spacecraft-achieves-unprecedented-success-studying-mercury/https://www.nasa.gov/history/15-years-ago-messenger-launched-to-orbit-mercury/