BepiColombo meets Mercury

The joint European-Japanese BepiColombo mission captured this view of Mercury on 1 October 2021 as the spacecraft flew past the planet for a gravity assist manoeuvre.

The image was taken at 23:41:12 UTC by the Mercury Transfer Module’s Monitoring Camera 2 when the spacecraft was 1410 km from Mercury. Closest approach of 199 km took place shortly before, at 23:34:41 UTC on 1 October. This image is one of the closest acquired during the flyby.

The cameras provide black-and-white snapshots in 1024 x 1024 pixel resolution. The magnetometer boom of the Mercury Planetary Orbiter and part of the body of the spacecraft are also visible in the image.

Close to the edge of the image is the 342 km Raphael crater, which has smaller, younger craters on its floor. Nearby, the Flaubert crater has a cluster of  central peaks rather than the single central peak typical of somewhat smaller craters. Central peaks are a result of ‘elastic rebound’ of the target area when hit by a high-speed impactor. Data from BepiColombo’s orbital tour of Mercury will enable us to better understand impact cratering. 

Click here for an annotated image.

The image has been lightly processed to enhance contrast and use the full dynamic range.

The gravity assist manoeuvre was the first at Mercury and the fourth of nine flybys overall. During its seven-year cruise to the smallest and innermost planet of the Solar System, BepiColombo makes one flyby at Earth, two at Venus and six at Mercury to help steer on course for Mercury orbit in 2025. The Mercury Transfer Module carries two science orbiters: ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter. They will operate from complementary orbits to study all aspects of mysterious Mercury from its core to surface processes, magnetic field and exosphere, to better understand the origin and evolution of a planet close to its parent star.