: Messenger's Mercury trip ends with a bang, and silence

 

Nasa's Messenger mission to Mercury has reached its explosive conclusion, after 10 years in space and four in orbit.

Now fully out of fuel, the spacecraft smashed into a region near Mercury's north pole, out of sight from Earth, at about 20:00 GMT on Thursday.

Mission scientists confirmed the impact minutes later, when the craft's next possible communication pass was silent.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-32542646

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And what's this thing coming toward me very fast? So big and flat and round, it needs a big wide sounding name like 'Ow', 'Ownge', 'Round', 'Ground'! That's it! Ground! Ha! 

... I wonder if it'll be friends with me? 

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