BepiColombo Mercury Mission
On October 20, 2018, the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission launched toward Mercury aboard an Ariane 5 rocket, beginning a 7-year journey to the solar system’s innermost and least-explored planet. The mission’s complexity stems from Mercury’s proximity to the Sun requiring precise gravity-assist maneuvers and extreme heat protection.
BepiColombo comprises two spacecraft: ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter (studying surface and interior) and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (analyzing magnetic field and solar wind interactions). The dual-probe approach allows comprehensive study of Mercury’s mysteries—iron core comprising 70% of planetary mass, unexplained magnetic field, and ice deposits in shadowed polar craters despite 430°C daytime temperatures.
The 7-year cruise includes one Earth flyby, two Venus flybys, and six Mercury flybys before final orbit insertion in December 2025. This circuitous route overcomes Mercury’s deep gravitational well—falling toward the Sun is harder than escaping it due to energy required to slow down against solar gravity.
The mission honors Giuseppe “Bepi” Colombo, the Italian mathematician who calculated Mariner 10’s gravity-assist trajectory in the 1970s. Launch generated 12+ million impressions as space enthusiasts noted the decade-plus commitment (2000s planning, 2018 launch, 2025 arrival) required for Mercury exploration.
BepiColombo’s first Mercury flyby in October 2021 captured surface images and detected calcium in the exosphere. The mission continues Venus and Mercury flybys through 2025, building on NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft (2011-2015) that mapped Mercury but left questions about magnetic field origins, volatile sources, and core dynamics unanswered.
https://www.esa.int/bepicolombo https://www.isas.jaxa.jp/en/missions/spacecraft/current/bepicolombo.html https://www.nature.com/