LEEDS: NASA’s latest Mercury space probe has crashed into the planet at just over 14 000 kilometres per hour.
The MESSENGER probe was deliberately sent veering into the planet on Thursday, signalling the end of a ten-year mission to study the innermost planet of our solar system.
MESSENGER was launched in August 2004, arriving at the planet in 2011 for what was supposed to be a year-long orbit.
However, the probe ended up orbiting Mercury for just over four years before its explosive demise last week.
MESSENGER’s mission saw it travelling for almost eight billion kilometres, including 15 trips around the Sun and two flybys of Venus, NASA said.
Before crashing into the planet, MESSENGER did capture one last image of the planet, showing the floor of a massive crater.
