One of the Last

This image, acquired yesterday, is one of MESSENGER's last. Today, the spacecraft will complete its highly successful orbital mission and impact the surface of Mercury. View this image for details of MESSENGER's impact location. Impact is expected at 19:26:02 UTC (3:26:02 pm EDT) but will occur out of sight and communication with the Earth. The MESSENGER team will try to establish communications with the spacecraft when its orbit would allow it to be visible from Earth. The inability to establish communications between MESSENGER and the scheduled Earth-based tracking antenna will provide the first confirmation that the spacecraft has impacted the surface. After about 30 minutes following the predicted Mercury impact time, the team plans to announce whether MESSENGER's orbital mission has come to an end. Date acquired: April 29, 2015 Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 72595737 Image ID: 8414772 Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) Center Latitude: 69.46° Center Longitude: 229.49° E Resolution: 1.7 meters/pixel Scale: The largest crater in this image has a diameter of 330 meters (0.2 miles) http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19445