NASA.....first spacecraft ever to orbit the innermost planet in the solar system.......

This NASA handout image received on October 7, 2008 shows MESSENGER as it successfully flew by Mercury on October 6, 2008, using the planet's gravity to alter the probeÕs path and help put it on track to become, in March 2011, the first spacecraft ever to orbit the innermost planet in the solar system. This image, acquired about 89 minutes before the craftÕs closest approach to Mercury, resembles the optical navigation images taken leading up to the flyby. The resolution of this image is slightly better than that obtained by the final optical navigation image set, and the surface visible is newly imaged terrain that was not previously seen by either Mariner 10 or during MESSENGERÕs first flyby. However, the added resolution is not the main scientific advancement that will be provided by this image. This WAC image is one of 11 viewed through different narrow-band color filters, the set of which will enable detailed color studies of this newly imaged area. In addition, the Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) acquired a high-resolution mosaic of most of this thin crescent view of Mercury at a resolution better than 0.5 kilometers/pixel (0.3 miles/pixel) that will enable the MESSENGER team to explore this newly imaged region of MercuryÕs surface in more detail.

This NASA handout image received on October 7, 2008 shows Machaut which is the name of a crater, approximately 100 kilometer (60 mile) in diameter, first seen under high-sun conditions by Mariner 10 in the 1970s. The crater is named for the medieval French poet and composer Guillaume de Machaut. This NAC image shows an amazing new view of Machaut taken during MESSENGERÕs second flyby of Mercury on October 6, 2008. The slanting rays of the Sun cast shadows that reveal numerous small craters and intricate features. The largest crater within Machaut appears to have been inundated by lava flows similar to those that have filled most of the floor of the larger feature. The adjacent, slightly smaller crater was formed at a later time and excavated material below the lava-formed surface. MESSENGER science team members will also be studying the shallow ridges that crisscross MachautÕs floor.


This NASA handout image received on October 7, 2008 that on Oct. 6, 2008, at 4:40 a.m. ET, MESSENGER successfully completed its second flyby of Mercury. The next day, at about 1:50 a.m. ET, the images taken during the flyby encounter began to be received back on Earth. The spectacular image shown here is one of the first to be returned and shows a WAC image of the departing planet taken about 90 minutes after the spacecraftÕs closest approach to Mercury. The bright crater just south of the center of the image is Kuiper, identified on images from the Mariner 10 mission in the 1970s. For most of the terrain east of Kuiper, toward the limb (edge) of the planet, the departing images are the first spacecraft views of that portion of MercuryÕs surface. A striking characteristic of this newly imaged area is the large pattern of rays that extend from the northern region of Mercury to regions south of Kuiper. This extensive ray system appears to emanate from a relatively young crater newly imaged by MESSENGER, providing a view of the planet distinctly unique from that obtained during MESSENGERÕs first flyby. This young, extensively rayed crater, along with the prominent rayed crater to the southeast of Kuiper, near the limb of the planet, were both seen in Earth-based radar images of Mercury but not previously imaged by spacecraft.