Bepi, Mio and MTM complete their final Mercury flyby

On Wednesday morning, 8 January 2025, BepiColombo successfully flew past planet Mercury for the sixth time. At 06:59 CET, Bepi, Mio and MTM got as close as 295 km to Mercury’s surface.  

BepiColombo’s cartoon characters Bepi, Mio and MTM correspond to the mission's three elements: ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter (shown in blue, middle), JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (red, top) and the ESA-built Mercury Transfer Module (grey, bottom), respectively.  

The trio approached the planet on its cold night side, after which they flew over shadowed craters at Mercury’s north pole and the sunlit northern volcanic plains. They filmed the surface using MTM’s monitoring cameras, and both Bepi and Mio used their science instruments to investigate the little planet’s surroundings.  

This sixth flyby is the last time the trio greet the planet together. MTM will wave goodbye to its two orbiter buddies as they approach Mercury again in late 2026, after which Bepi and Mio will settle into separate orbits around their planet friend.  

We expect to release the first images from today's flyby on 9 January, with other scientific data to follow. 

Click here for an overview infographic of the flyby  

Meet the cartoon characters during their mission training