What did the messenger discover on Mercury?

March 18, 2011: NASA’s Messenger spacecraft successfully entered the orbit of planet Mercury, becoming the first spacecraft to do so. During its stay in the planet’s orbit, Messenger’s instruments yielded significant data about Mercury’s magnetic field. It showed evidence of ‘water ice’ on the planet’s North Pole. Messenger’s mission lasted until 2015, when it crashed onto the surface, likely creating a crater in the planet’s northern terrain.

One of MESSENGER’s most remarkable images was its mosaic of our solar system, obtained Feb. 18, 2011, with all the planets visible except Uranus and Neptune—a visual counterpart to the image of the solar system taken by Voyager 1 on Feb. 14, 1990.

The spacecraft completed its primary yearlong mission March 17, 2012, having taken nearly 100,000 images of the surface of Mercury.

Among its initial discoveries was finding high concentrations of magnesium and calcium on Mercury’s night side, identifying a significant northward offset of Mercury’s magnetic field from the planet’s center, finding large amounts of water in Mercury’s exosphere, and revealing evidence of past volcanic activity on the surface.

 

Picture Credit : Google