Its a shame we had to kill the Messenger

Science and Technology
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For those who don’t follow the space program closely Messenger was the first and only craft ever to orbit Mercury. It arrived there in 2011 and has been taking some amazing photos and gathering data ever since. It finally ran out of fuel as expected and crashed to the surface on Thursday. This video from NASA highlights some of the images sent back

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It confirmed the existence of water ice, in permanently shadowed areas near the poles. It detected a magnetic field that is apparently generated by a still active planetary core. There was even mention of detection of an unknown “organic” layer of material on the ice.
The Messenger was crashed because it ran out of fuel. I wonder whether a primarily solar power propulsion system could be designed to lengthen the lifespan of such a vehicle. Although it was up there for years, as it was.

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For those who don't follow the space program closely Messenger was the first and only craft ever to orbit Mercury. It arrived there in 2011 and has been taking some amazing photos and gathering data ever since. It finally ran out of fuel as expected and crashed to the surface on Thursday. This video from NASA highlights some of the images sent back http://www.space.com/29281-messenger-spacecraft-mercury-crash.html#ooid=ZtbXhydDp1f81Aj3OdGdsUOpu4wnAmop
All things must pass. But, hey Pluto is next up. That should be interesting. New Horizon's spacecraft ETA: 7:49:59 a.m. EDT (11:49:59 UTC) on July 14, 2015 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/index.html http://www.nasa.gov/pluto042915
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Oh back to Messenger, I got a big kick out of how NASA described Messenger’s last act as “Lithobraking”
Between a rock and hard spot came to mind, but it’s more like between a rock and 8,750MPH

NASA earlier said the probe was expected to hit the surface at 8,750 miles per hour and to create an impact crater 52 feet (16 meters) in diameter. http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/30/us/nasa-mercury-messenger-space-probe-to-crash/
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What amazes me is, we have some people on the planet who can literally make machines orbit other planets, and some others that don’t have access to a toilet. Just one measure that indicates what a primitive civilization we still are.