Instrument: Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)Scale: Scale bar of 100 km provided on the imageCenter Latitude: -31.56°Center Longitude: 74.97° EOf Interest: Enterprise Rupes, (indicated here with white arrows) about 1000 km long and with over 3 km of relief, is the largest lobate scarp on Mercury! MESSENGER has confirmed that the contraction of Mercury has resulted in a global array of lobate scarps, tectonic landforms that are the surface expression of thrust faults. Many lobate thrust fault scarps, such as Enterprise Rupes, are large, often hundreds of kilometers long, and display hundreds to thousands of meters of relief, in contrast to the small scarps more recently being identified on Mercury. This image was presented at a press event at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Visit the press event website to learn more! The MESSENGER spacecraft is the first ever to orbit the planet Mercury, and the spacecraft’s seven scientific instruments and radio science investigation are unraveling the history and evolution of the Solar System’s innermost planet. In the mission’s more than three years of orbital operations, MESSENGER has acquired over 250,000 images and extensive other data sets. MESSENGER is capable of continuing orbital operations until early 2015.
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington