Spacecraft begins challenging Mercury approach after eight-year voyage

A joint European Space Agency‑Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency spacecraft, BepiColombo, commenced its months‑long, high‑risk approach to Mercury on Thursday, marking the culmination of an eight‑year voyage that began with its launch in October 2018. The mission carries two scientific probes—the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) built by ESA and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO), also known as Mio, developed by JAXA—each equipped with a suite of instruments designed to map the planet’s surface, analyze its thin exosphere, and investigate its magnetic field and interior structure.

The complex trajectory includes a series of gravity‑assist flybys of Earth, Venus and Mercury itself before the spacecraft settles into orbit around the innermost planet in early 2025. By enduring extreme solar heating and navigating the Sun’s intense gravitational pull, BepiColombo aims to answer longstanding questions about Mercury’s formation, its unusually large iron core, and the dynamics of its magnetosphere. Successful insertion into Mercury’s orbit will provide unprecedented data that could refine models of planetary evolution throughout the solar system.