NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft has finally started sending back the first images of the solar systems inner most planet ever taken by a human made invention on March 29. The first views are of the south and north polar regions of Mercury were released by NASA on March 29 and March 30, and they paint a new portrait of the surface of Mercury than the one astronomers had previously painted. The first images of the surface of Mercury show a crater strewn surface use to continual bombardment over millions of years, indicated by the secondary craters and other features astronomers are viewing.

Star gazers around the world can now check out the estimated 1,500, or more, images that MESSENGER is believed to have already sent back to Earth. This might seem like a lot of pictures, but MESSENGER will sent back around 75,000 images by the time the mission ends in March 2012. Planet scientists will take these photographs and assemble them into a picture of the surface of Mercury they'll use during the years ahead to discover more and more about the planets and its future and origins.

MESSENGER has been designed and engineered for the job and has on board seven sensitive instruments that are now all working as expected, according to the latest reports. These will include laser instrumentation to measure the topographical height of features on the surface of Mercury and a magnetometer to measure the magnetic field of the planet. In addition, instrumentation on board will explore the atmosphere of Mercury and surface composition, and hopefully sample a bit of the interior of a planet that man has wondered about since the time of the first star gazers.

MESSENGER is in fact the first human spacecraft to orbit Mercury, MESSENGER and Mariner 10 flew by Mercury during previous visits, which marks a historic moment in the human journey to the beginning of space and time. How far is human kind from attempting to journey to another planet in the solar system? We are drawing closer and closer with every mission and building the technology and confidence we need to journey beyond the boundaries of our fear and one day in the future mankind will venture forth into the unknown of space and time.