Mercury (Photo : Reuters)
A NASA Mercury probe is not prepared to call the groundbreaking work off at the innermost planet in the solar system. It will be extended for a month, just before the spacecraft consumes all of its fuel.
In the previous week, the Messenger spacecraft executed its first engine burn designed to unearth its orbit and delay its impact to Mercury's surface for at least a month, the Space reported.
Jim McAdams, Messenger Mission Design Lead Engineer, of Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Lab said, "We decided on a strategy that includes five maneuvers in as many weeks to keep the spacecraft within a tight altitude range of 5 to 39 kilometers [3 to 24 miles] above the surface of Mercury at closest approach."
If the plan is followed, the Messenger will be able to observe Mercury until the last day of April.
A $450 million mission launched in 2004, its name was a shortened version of Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging. After a long route through the solar system's innermost surfaces, Messenger became the first ever spacecraft to circum-navigate Mercury in March 2011.
The Messenger is, today, under an extended mission with its spacecraft running out of fuel. When the tank goes empty, it will succumb to the sun's gravitational pool and spiral down towards its life's end on Mercury. Its final operating days will prioritize the spacecraft neutron spectrometer and magnetometer observations.
Haje Korth, Messenger Deputy Project Scientist, said "With NS, scientists will hone in on shadowed craters at northern high latitudes to search for water ice. We have found such evidence previously in the mission, but we hope to find more at low altitudes and spatially resolve the distribution within individual craters if we are lucky," the JHUAPL wrote.
