At 06:59 Central European time on January 8, the BepiColombo spacecraft successfully performed its sixth flyby of Mercury, the innermost planet in the solar system. This was a “gravity assist move,” a move that used Mercury’s gravity to change the direction of the BepiColombo rover, which will put it into orbit around the planet by the end of 2026.
BepiColombo is a joint mission by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to study the composition of Mercury. The vehicle, which includes two probes—ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter—launched in the fall of 2018 and previously orbited the sun.
When it approaches Mercury again, the vehicle will separate, and the two probes will head towards their polar orbits. BepiColombo’s science mission is then planned for early 2027, when the probes will look for information on how the planet was formed and whether some of its craters contain water ice.
Until then, we’ll have to make do with the details contained in these three photos taken by the vehicle during its recent flight.