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Sciences and Exploration Directorate
Past

Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA)

MLA is one of the primary instruments on NASA's MESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging) Project. MLA's function is to create topographic maps of Mercury that will help characterize the geologic history of the planet. The MESSENGER is the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury; the solar system's most unexplored planet.

Launch Date

August 2004

Class

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Website

Key Staff

MLA is one of the primary instruments on NASA's MESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging) Project. MLA's function is to create topographic maps of Mercury that will help characterize the geologic history of the planet. The MESSENGER is the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury; the solar system's most unexplored planet.

Related Publications

2023. "Regional variations of Mercury's crustal density and porosity from MESSENGER gravity data.", Icarus, 391 115332 [10.1016/j.icarus.2022.115332] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "New Constraints on the Volatile Deposit in Mercury’s North Polar Crater, Prokofiev.", The Planetary Science Journal, 3 (8): 188 [10.3847/psj/ac7d5a] [Journal Article/Letter]

2019. "The thickness of radar-bright deposits in Mercury's northern hemisphere from individual Mercury Laser Altimeter tracks.", Icarus, 323 40-45 [Full Text] [10.1016/j.icarus.2019.01.016] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "Ice In Micro Cold-Traps on Mercury: Implications for Age and Origin.", Journal of Geophysical Research - Planets, 123 2178-2191 [10.1029/2018JE005644] [Journal Article/Letter]