Key facts
- Two Mercury-bound spacecraft, BepiColombo, separated from their mother ship.
- The spacecraft are on the final 2 million miles of their journey to Mercury.
- BepiColombo is scheduled to enter orbit around Mercury in November.
- The mission, launched in 2018, is a joint European and Japanese endeavor.
- Science observations are expected to commence in the spring.
Two spacecraft, BepiColombo, have successfully separated from their mother ship and are now on the final stretch of their nearly decade-long journey to Mercury. The crucial separation maneuver was confirmed via radio signals from the European Space Agency's control center in Germany. The mission, a joint effort between the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, launched in 2018 and has already traveled over 6 billion miles.
BepiColombo is expected to enter orbit around Mercury in November and then split into two separate craft in December to conduct mapping and scientific studies of the planet from different altitudes. The spacecraft still have 2 million miles to cover before reaching their destination. The mission is named after Italian mathematician Giuseppe Colombo, who contributed to NASA's Mariner 10 mission to Mercury in the 1970s. Only NASA's Messenger spacecraft has previously explored Mercury, a planet known for its extreme temperatures and mysterious characteristics.
Engineers designed the spacecraft to withstand the harsh conditions near the sun, described as operating in a "very hot pizza oven." Science observations are slated to begin next spring, focusing on Mercury's magnetic field, internal structure, and surface geology, including unique hollows believed to be formed by vaporizing minerals. The mission's significant cost of approximately $2 billion is largely covered by the European Space Agency.