The Topographic model was created using more than 100,000 images acquired by the MESSENGER
Images were acquired with a large range of viewing geometries and illumination conditions, which enabled the topography across Mercury's surface to be determined.
Due to the spacecraft's highly eccentric orbit, the MLA was able to make primary measurements only in Mercury's northern hemisphere and near-equatorial region, leaving the topography of most of the southern hemisphere largely unknown, until now.
Before the launch of MESSENGER, little was known about the planet Mercury. Launched in August 2004, the MESSENGER spacecraft traveled 4.9 billion miles - a journey that included 15 trips around the sun and flybys of Earth once, Venus twice and Mercury three times - before it was inserted into orbit around its target planet in March 2011. Although it completed its primary science objectives by March 2012, the spacecraft’s mission was extended two times, allowing it to capture additional images and information about the planet in unprecedented detail. MESSENGER’s voyage to Mercury surpassed expectations and ended with its descent and impact onto the surface on April 30, 2015.
