The BepiColombo mission is about to arrive at Mercury after nearly eight years of traveling through space. The Euro-Japanese probe, developed in collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), is in the final approach phase to the smallest and closest planet to the Sun in our solar system.
The mission was launched in 2018 and since then has traveled a long trajectory through space, performing multiple gravitational assist maneuvers to reach Mercury. The main objective of the mission is to study the planet's surface, atmosphere, and magnetosphere, seeking to better understand its composition and evolution.
BepiColombo is composed of two probes that traveled together to the final destination, where they will separate to perform complementary observations of the planet. One of the probes is European and the other is Japanese, representing a joint effort of international cooperation in space exploration.
This moment marks a significant milestone for the exploration of the solar system, being the first European mission to Mercury since the Mariner 10 mission, carried out in the 1970s. Scientists hope that the data collected will help clarify some of the questions still open about this mysterious planet.
