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The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
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Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
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Mercury during BepiColombo's fifth flyby
This image of Mercury was captured by the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission on 1 December 2024, as the spacecraft approached its fifth of six gravity assist manoeuvres at the planet.
This view was captured at 11:46 CET by the Mercury Transfer Module’s monitoring camera 2 (M-CAM 2), when the spacecraft was over 51 000 km from the planet’s surface, 3 hours 37 minutes before closest approach. The spacecraft’s minimum distance to the surface of 37 626 km was reached at 15:23:41 CET, when none of the three monitoring cameras could view Mercury.
The monitoring cameras provide black-and-white images at 1024 x 1024 pixel resolution. This image has been lightly processed to reduce some banding effects caused by the camera having no mechanical shutter.
When this image was taken, BepiColombo was high over Mercury's northern hemisphere, heading southwards at a speed of 2.8 km/s relative to the planet.
Even at this great distance from the planet, one of the most prominent features of Mercury – a 1550 km-wide impact basin named Caloris Planitia – is visible as a brighter circular feature on the planet's disc. At the time, Caloris was close to local noon. In this view, the north pole of the planet was located on the right, around halfway down the line between day and night.
BepiColombo will pass much closer to Mercury’s north pole during its final flyby of Mercury on 8 January 2025 – its last visit before arriving to enter orbit about the planet in November 2026.
