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Atlas — the interactive world

Pluto · dwarfHaumea · dwarfEris · dwarfVenusMakemake · dwarfEarth1P/HalleyThe SunNeptuneSaturnMercuryJupiterMarsUranusCeres · dwarf

the Solar System · Explore · schematic figure · 8 planets · 5 dwarf planets · 2 belts · 1 comet · positions computed for today · editorial corpus · no live source connected

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Mission · NASA · Completed

MESSENGER

Launched —
2004-08-03

Encounter order — not trajectory

  1. 1. 2008-01-14 · Mercury · flybyMESSENGER’s first Mercury pass — the first visit since 1975
  2. 2. 2011-03-18 · Mercury · orbit insertionMESSENGER enters orbit around Mercury — the first craft to do so
  3. 3. 2015-04-30 · Mercury · impactMESSENGER strikes Mercury at the end of its mission

An encounter sequence is the order the records give, not a flight path. Atlas holds no trajectory for these missions and draws none.

Dates are the operator’s mission record; none was network-verified in this production run, and the record says so.

Mission history · 1962 → now50 encounters · 19 missions · 19 bodiesMESSENGER○ planned
Schematic · log-compressed · ranked discs · not an ephemeris — full statement →

Schematic view: distances are log-compressed (to true scale Neptune sits 30× Earth’s distance) and discs are ranked by size, not to scale. Positions computed from JPL mean orbital elements for today — an orientation good to a few degrees, not an ephemeris.

Data: NASA Planetary Fact Sheet · JPL approximate elements · JPL small-body database (1P/Halley).