MESSENGER update

The NASA spacecraft MESSENGER mission confirmed a successful pass of Mercury, promising exciting science data and images soon.

Written byPhil Plait
| 1 min read
Google NewsGoogle News Preferred Source

Newsletter

Sign up for our email newsletter for the latest science news

Sign Up

The NASA spacecraft MESSENGER swept past Mercury today, and everything looks good. Some science data were returned today, but no images have been posted as yet. Tomorrow at noon EST it will point its antenna homeward and send us the rest of the data, and I'm hoping we'll see some images then. The image here was taken on the 13th, from a distance of 760,000 km from the planet. You can already see many features! I can't wait for the good stuff to come in.

Meet the Author

Stay Curious

JoinOur List

Sign up for our weekly science updates

View our Privacy Policy

SubscribeTo The Magazine

Save up to 40% off the cover price when you subscribe to Discover magazine.

Subscribe