NASA's MESSENGER probe prepares for collision with Mercury on April 30 after successful mission

The NASA's MESSENGER probe that made surprising discoveries of ice and other materials on Mercury will crash on the planet around April 30, after it runs out of propellant.

NASA's MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft will impact the planet at more than 8,750 miles per hour on the side of the planet facing away from Earth. Due to the expected location, engineers will be unable to view in real time the exact location of impact.

The last maneuver has been scheduled for April 24.

Recently, mission operators in mission control at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, completed the fourth in a series of orbit correction maneuvers designed to delay the spacecraft's impact into the surface of Mercury.

The spacecraft traveled more than six and a half years before it was inserted into orbit around Mercury on March 18, 2011. The prime mission was to orbit the planet and collect data for one Earth year. The spacecraft's healthy instruments, remaining fuel, and new questions raised by early findings resulted in two approved operations extensions, allowing the mission to continue for almost four years and resulting in more scientific firsts.

One key science finding in 2012 provided compelling support for the hypothesis that Mercury harbors abundant frozen water and other volatile materials in its permanently shadowed polar craters.

In addition to science discoveries, the mission provided many technological firsts, including the development of a vital heat- resistant and highly reflective ceramic cloth sunshade that isolated the spacecraft's instruments and electronics from direct solar radiation, vital to mission success given Mercury's proximity to the sun.

The technology would help inform future designs for planetary missions within the solar system.