Skip to main content

Mission to Mercury successfully launched by Japanese and European space agencies

A spacecraft with a mission to explore the planet Mercury has been launched from French Guiana in a combined effort by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The aim of the mission is to study Mercury’s inner core and perhaps even to discover information about the formation of our solar system.

As the planet closest to the sun, Mercury has been little explored, with only two spacecraft ever visiting it before. The Mariner 10 probe passed by the planet in 1974 and again in 1975, and the MESSENGER robotic spacecraft orbited the planet between 2011 and 2015. These NASA missions succeed in capturing data and images from Mercury, but now Japanese and European scientists hope to gain more information about the least explored inner planet.

Due to its proximity to the sun and the fact that the planet spins very slowly, temperatures on Mercury are extremely variable, ranging from 427 °C (801 °F) to −173 °C (−279 °F). In addition, the planet is bombarded by solar rays leading to high levels of radiation on the surface. This makes collecting data from the planet challenging, although it is known that Mercury has a huge iron core. The current mission aims to learn more about this core through the use of probes.

The BepiColombo spacecraft that was launched is named after the Italian scientist Giuseppe “Bepi” Colombo, and was built in a partnership between the ESA and JAXA. It has an unusual design: it is a “stacked aircraft” consisting of a transport module and two orbiters. One orbiter was built by ESA, and the other by JAXA. The orbiter built by ESA has a special coating of ceramics and insulation designed by the aircraft company Airbus, which should protect it from the high temperatures and harsh conditions on the planet.

BepiColombo’s journey to Mercury

The trip to Mercury will take seven years, so we won’t be seeing results from the probes any time soon. The craft will follow an elliptical path and its journey will include one fly-by of Earth, two of Venus, and a total of six of Mercury to allow the craft to slow before the probes are released. If all goes well, the craft should arrive at Mercury in December 2025.

Georgina Torbet
Georgina is the Digital Trends space writer, covering human space exploration, planetary science, and cosmology. She…
Crew-7 astronauts launch on mission to the International Space Station
A rocket is launched to the International Space Station at 3:27 a.m. EDT Saturday, Aug. 26, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The International Space Station (ISS) will soon be getting some new visitors, as four astronauts of the SpaceX Crew-7 mission began their journey to the station at 3:27 a.m. today, Saturday, August 26. Launched using a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center, the crew will travel in their Crew Dragon spacecraft throughout the day before arriving at the ISS tomorrow.

An international crew of four representing four countries is in orbit following a successful launch to the International Space Station at 3:27 a.m. EDT Saturday, Aug. 26, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The agency’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission is the seventh commercial crew rotation mission for NASA. NASA

Read more
Get up close to Ariane 5 rocket’s final launch in this 360-degree video
The Ariane 5 lifts off for the final time in July 2023.

Final Ariane 5 liftoff | 360° view of launch

Arianespace’s Ariane 5 rocket lifted off for the final time last month, bringing to a close 27 years of reliable service.

Read more
European BepiColombo spacecraft makes its third Mercury flyby today
Artist impression of BepiColombo flying by Mercury. The spacecraft makes nine gravity assist manoeuvres (one of Earth, two of Venus and six of Mercury) before entering orbit around the innermost planet of the Solar System in 2025.

The European Space Agency (ESA) launched the BepiColombo mission in 2018, and it is set to enter orbit around Mercury in 2025. In the meantime, it will be making several flybys of the planet, including a close approach today. That's because the spacecraft's route takes it on a series of increasingly close flybys that use the planet's gravity to adjust its course each time.

In total, between its launch in 2020 and its arrival in Mercury orbit in 2025, the spacecraft will make one flyby of Earth, two of Venus, and six of Mercury. The Earth and Venus flybys are already complete, and today BepiColombo is making its third Mercury flyby, coming within 150 miles of the planet's surface.

Read more