At 6:59 a.m. Central On January 8, European time, the BepiColombo probe successfully completed its sixth flyby of Mercury, the innermost planet of the solar system. This was a “gravitational assist maneuver”, a move that used Mercury’s gravitational pull to change the trajectory of the BepiColombo vehicle, which would put it in orbit around the planet by the end of 2026 .
BepiColombo is a joint mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) that will study the composition of Mercury. The vehicle, consisting of two probes – ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter – was launched in fall 2018 and previously orbited the sun.
When it approaches Mercury again, the vehicle will separate and the two probes will head toward their dedicated polar orbits. BepiColombo’s scientific work is then planned for early 2027, when probes will seek information on how the planet formed and whether any of its craters contain water in the form of ice.
Until then, we will have to make do with the details contained in these three images taken by the vehicle during its most recent flyby.
