Nasa's Messenger spacecraft to crash into Mercury, ending mission

The probe, which has been mapping Mercury since 2011, is due to run out of fuel on Thursday and is expected to crash into the far side of the planet

Mercury, the innermost planet of the solar system, will acquire a fresh crater on Thursday when a half-tonne US spacecraft slams into the planet's surface to end its spectacular four-year mission.

The Messenger probe launched from Earth in 2004 and has been mapping Mercury in exquisite detail since it arrived in orbit in 2011. The spacecraft has beamed back a series of breathtaking images of the tiny, scorched world, which orbits so close to the sun that daytime temperatures reach 427 Celsius.

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