"Messenger has left the building"

markbolla · April 30, 2015, 9:06pm

On a sad note, our old friend Messenger has impacted Mercury. There was no one there to see it (that we know about), but I’m sure it was a grand exit.

Opcode · April 30, 2015, 9:09pm

I read that it created a new, fifty-foot diameter crater on impact.

CaffeinatedPanda · April 30, 2015, 10:02pm

TIL about the word “lithobraking” AKA when you crash into a rock and slide to a stop. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/04/30/403279933/kill-the-messenger-nasa-orbiter-set-to-crash-into-mercury-thursday

markbolla · April 30, 2015, 10:08pm

I guess that my motorcycle and I have lithobraked a few times without knowing that we were actually doing scientific research. Applying what I know about biking, what actually happened to Messenger was something that we always called “road rash”