Excerpt from perfscience.com

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) spacecraft MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) had entered the Mercury’s orbit about three years ago and gathered lots of information about the planet. Now, the spacecraft is near the end of its life.  The probe is supposed to collide with the surface of Mercury in March 2015 as it is running out of fuel. When the probe will be completely out of fuel, gravity will crash it into the planet’s surface.  According to the space agency, the probe has surpassed its mission objective. The spacecraft has worked better than Mariner 10, the only other spacecraft that visited the planet in mid-1970s. NASA’s Mariner 10 had mapped only 45% of the surface of the planet, while MESSENGER has imaged all regions of the planet.  As per the space agency’s plan, the spacecraft was planned to take only 2,500 images of the smallest planet of the solar system, but it has already sent more than 250,000 images, which helped scientists in various researches about the planet.  As the probe has provided helpful information about the planet in last three years, NASA scientists and team members of the MESSENGER at the Carnegie Institution for Science and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory have decided to celebrate the success and achievements of the probe. So, they have decided to start a competition, where people will have to give names to five currently anonymous craters on Mercury.  The spacecraft discovered theses craters, which have not been named yet. The size of these craters ranges from 24 kilometers to 105 kilometers in diameter. According to the researchers, they will continue to use data gathered by the probe to discover more about the planet.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) spacecraft MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) had entered the Mercury’s orbit about three years ago and gathered lots of information about the planet. Now, the spacecraft is near the end of its life.
The probe is supposed to collide with the surface of Mercury in March 2015 as it is running out of fuel. When the probe will be completely out of fuel, gravity will crash it into the planet’s surface.
According to the space agency, the probe has surpassed its mission objective. The spacecraft has worked better than Mariner 10, the only other spacecraft that visited the planet in mid-1970s. NASA’s Mariner 10 had mapped only 45% of the surface of the planet, while MESSENGER has imaged all regions of the planet.

As per the space agency’s plan, the spacecraft was planned to take only 2,500 images of the smallest planet of the solar system, but it has already sent more than 250,000 images, which helped scientists in various researches about the planet.
As the probe has provided helpful information about the planet in last three years, NASA scientists and team members of the MESSENGER at the Carnegie Institution for Science and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory have decided to celebrate the success and achievements of the probe. So, they have decided to start a competition, where people will have to give names to five currently anonymous craters on Mercury.
The spacecraft discovered theses craters, which have not been named yet. The size of these craters ranges from 24 kilometers to 105 kilometers in diameter. According to the researchers, they will continue to use data gathered by the probe to discover more about the planet.
– See more at: http://perfscience.com/content/214866-nasa%E2%80%99s-messenger-close-end-life-cycle#sthash.k0e8f9VS.dpuf