European Space AgencyA UK-built spacecraft has captured new images of Mercury as it makes its sixth and final flyby before entering the planet’s orbit in 2026.
BepiColombo was built by Stevenage-based Astrium, now Airbus, and launched in 2018.
The spacecraft consists of two satellites that will collect data for at least a year, and they need a special shield to withstand the sun’s heat.
Surveillance cameras on the spacecraft captured images of the planet as it flew 295 kilometers (183 miles) above Mercury’s surface, including views of the planet’s north pole, where it was illuminated by sunlight.
European Space AgencyBepiColombo will try to determine what Mercury is actually made of, and whether water might exist in some of the planet’s deepest craters.
It had to make nine flybys around Earth, Venus and Mercury before it could reach the right speed that Mercury’s gravity could capture.
This flyby marks the last time surveillance cameras will take close-up images of Mercury, as the associated spacecraft module will now separate from the mission’s two satellites before they enter orbit.
European Space Agency“The main phase of the BepiColombo mission may begin only two years from now, but all six of its flybys of Mercury have given us invaluable new information about the little-explored planet,” said Frank Budnick, director of flight dynamics at BepiColombo.
“In the next few weeks, the BepiColombo team will be working hard to unravel as many of Mercury’s mysteries using the data from this flyby as possible,” added Geraint Jones, BepiColombo project scientist at ESA.