ESA and JAXA’s BepiColombo mission has reached its closest approach to Mercury, making its final gravity maneuver before entering the planet’s orbit in 2026.
The joint European Space Agency (ESA) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) robotic mission BepiColombo successfully completed the sixth and final gravity flyby of Mercury on January 8.
According to the press service of the mission, the closest approach to the planet took place at 07:58 Kyiv time, when the device was 295 km from the surface of Mercury. A few hours earlier, the probe took a picture of the southern part of the planet from a distance of 44,950 km.
The BepiColombo mission, now more than six years old, uses a series of nine gravity assist maneuvers to gradually approach Mercury’s orbit. During this time, the probe flew past Earth, came close to Venus twice and came close to Mercury six times. It is expected to enter orbit around the solar system’s smallest planet in late 2026.
With each flyby, the probe’s cameras and scientific instruments examine Mercury’s surface, magnetic field and other features, bringing us closer to unlocking its mysteries.
It was previously reported that a group of astronomers, in collaboration with space agencies NASA and ESA, discovered a new planet Gliese 12b in space.
Source: korrespondent
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