BepiColombo Successfully Concludes Last Flyby of Mercury, Set for Orbital Mission in 2026

2025-04-03 08:46:51

Initiated on October 18, 2018, BepiColombo stands as the second and most intricate mission ever designed to orbit the planet Mercury.

Mercury' BepiColombo mission — The enigmatic north pole of Mercury unveiled by M-CAM 1 (ESA)

The European Space Agency’s BepiColombo‘s sixth and final Mercury flyby, executed on January 8, 2025, successfully set the stage for its planned orbit insertion in late 2026. The ESA/JAXA mission skimmed just a few hundred kilometers above Mercury’s north pole, capturing close-up images revealing potentially icy, permanently shadowed craters and the expansive sunlit northern plains.

At 06:59 CET, BepiColombo soared to an altitude of just 295 km above the cold, shadowy night side of Mercury. Approximately seven minutes later, it flew directly over the planet's north pole, offering clear perspectives of Mercury's sunlit northern hemisphere.

Following its passage through Mercury’s shadow, BepiColombo’s monitoring camera 1 (M-CAM 1) captured the initial detailed images of Mercury’s surface. As it soared over the ‘terminator’ – the dividing line between daylight and darkness – the spacecraft seized a rare chance to look directly into the perpetually shadowed crat