The European-Japanese spacecraft made its closest flyby of Mercury to date, buzzing the planet’s north pole and peering into shadowed craters.
BepiColombo took this image as it made its final flyby of Mercury before it will settle into orbit around the planet. Credit: ESA/JAXA
BepiColombo, the current spacecraft studying Mercury, is a joint mission of the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Launched October 20, 2018, it’s actually two satellites in one, the Mercury Planetary Orbiter and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, and it will reach its destination in November 2026. To reach its final position, however, it needed some assistance from the gravity of the two inner planets, so it flew by Venus twice and Mercury six times.
That sixth flyby of Mercury occurred Jan. 8, 2025. On that date, BepiColombo flew just 183 miles (295 kilometers) above the planet’s surface, then shortly after over its north pole. As it did, the spacecraft’s monitoring cameras (M-CAMs) got some great close-up views. Unfortunately, these are also the M-CAMs’ final looks at Mercury because the spacecraft module they’re attached to will separate from the mission’s two orbiters.
To commemorate BepiColombo’s final flyby of Mercury, ESA released three great images from the M-CAMs. Enjoy!
