BepiColombo nears Mercury orbital arrival after seven year journey

The ESA and JAXA BepiColombo mission is entering its final year of approach to Mercury, on track to reach orbit in November 2026 after launching in October 2018. The dual-spacecraft mission has already completed one flyby of Earth, two of Venus, and six of Mercury, collecting solar activity and magnetosphere data en route.

Throughout its cruise, BepiColombo measured planetary magnetic environments, monitoring the Sun's influence on radio signals as well as Mercury's changing magnetic bubble. The mission has produced the first magnetic measurements from low over Mercury's southern hemisphere and reconstructed a magnetic field map. These are compared with data from the Earth flyby in 2020 and Venus in 2021. The spacecraft also sent back recordings that capture its passage past planets, including gravitational and temperature effects and component movements.

Imaging systems on the Mercury Transfer Module have documented the journey with hundreds of high-resolution photos, revealing views of Earth, Venus, and Mercury's surface features.

Once at Mercury, the stacked spacecraft will separate: ESA's Mercury Planetary Orbiter will closely scan the surface in multiple wavelengths and measure topography and composition, while JAXA's Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter will orbit at a greater distance specializing in magnetic and particle environment studies. Unstacking will allow all scientific instruments to operate at full capacity. Anticipated observations include high-resolution surface scans, analysis of polar craters, and enhanced studies of magnetic fields, dust, and exospheric sodium.

The mission will begin science operations in early 2027, with both orbiters collecting data during a nominal one-year mission that may extend by another 1.5 years.