Stunning New Images of Mercury Captured by BepiColombo Mission During Flyby
Key Highlights :
The BepiColombo mission recently captured stunning new images of Mercury during a close flyby, providing an intimate glimpse of the solar system's smallest planet. The mission, a joint effort by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), made its closest approach to Mercury on Monday June 19 at 3:34 p.m. ET, when the spacecraft was at a distance of around 236 kilometres above the surface of Mercury.
The spacecraft's monitoring camera 3 snapped tens of images of Mercury, which were transmitted to Earth overnight. On Tuesday, ESA released three images that capture BepiColombo approaching the rocky planet before departing its side for the third time. The images revealed Mercury's heavily cratered surface, including a large 218 kilometres peak-ring impact crater that was named Manley after pioneering Jamaican artist Edna Manley.
Indeed, this marked BepiColombo's third of six gravity assists, whereby the spacecraft uses Mercury's gravity to slow down as it positions itself to enter the planet's orbit. The spacecraft is actually a pair of orbiters stacked on top of one another, each equipped with their own science instruments to help uncover Mercury's mysteries.
In August, BepiColombo will embark on a six-week long “thrust arcs” sequence, during which it will gradually fire up its electric propulsion system to brake against the powerful gravitational pull of the Sun. When it finally settles in Mercury’s orbit in 2025, BepiColombo will divide into two orbiters: ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter, which will scan the planet’s surface and interior, and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, which will study the planet’s magnetic field.
The breathtaking new images captured by BepiColombo during its flyby of Mercury provide an exciting glimpse of the planet's rugged surface topology and its many impact craters. The mission promises to uncover many more of Mercury's mysteries as it continues to explore the planet's heavily cratered surface.
