BepiColombo

BepiColombo will be the second and most complex mission ever to orbit Mercury. Close to the Sun and more difficult for an orbiter to reach than Saturn, this small desert world is the least explored planet of the inner Solar System. Learning more about Mercury will shed light on the history of the entire Solar System.

Packed with scientific instruments, the mission will try to answer many perplexing questions, such as: Why is there ice in the polar craters of the scorched planet? Why does Mercury have a magnetic field? And what are the mysterious 'hollows' on its surface?

Launch: 20 October 2018
Components: Mercury Planetary Orbiter, Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, Mercury Transfer Module
Status: In operation; en route to Mercury
Mercury flybys: 1 Oct 2021, 23 June 2022, 19 June 2023, 4 Sept 2024, 1 Dec 2024, 8 Jan 2025
Arrival at Mercury: November 2026
Beginning of routine science operations at Mercury: Early 2027

2 orbiters
8 year cruise
9 planet flybys
4100 kg launch mass

Mercury’s magnetosphere during BepiColombo’s third flyby (unannotated)

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