NASA releases first topographical map of Mercury

May 9, 2016

On Friday, the US (NASA) released the first ever global  (DEM) of.

The DEM was created using data gathered by NASA's (MESSENGER) spacecraft, including over 100,000 photographs, and shows a variety of Mercury's  including the planet's highest and lowest points. MESSENGER principal investigator said they hope the information will be used to investigate Mercury's geological history. The highest elevation on Mercury is at 4.48 (2.78 ) above Mercury’s average elevation, located just south of the  in some of Mercury’s oldest terrain. The lowest elevation, at 5.38 kilometers (3.34 miles) below Mercury’s average, is found on the floor of the, a double-ring impact basin suspected to host some of the most recent volcanic deposits on the planet.

The MESSENGER spacecraft was launched in 2004 to study Mercury, including its, , and. MESSENGER began orbiting Mercury in March 2011, becoming the first spacecraft to do so. In April 2015, having completed its mission, MESSENGER dropped out of orbit and impacted the surface of Mercury.