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.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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The BepiColombo mission, launched in October 2018, consists of the European Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO), the Japanese Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (Mio) and the ESA-made Mercury Transfer Module (MTM). The three spacecraft cruise through the Solar System as a stack. On their seven year journey to Mercury, the Solar System’s innermost planet, the spacecraft have to perform nine gravity-assist manoeuvres to adjust their trajectory. The first of those manoeuvres, the flyby at Earth, brings BepiColombo to the distance of only 12 700 km away from Earth’s surface, which is less than a half of the orbit altitude of Europe’s navigational satellites Galileo. BepiColombo’s closest approach on 10 April 2020 at 06:25 CEST could be observed with small telescopes by amateur astronomers located in southern latitudes. While astronomers in southern Europe could catch a brief glimpse of BepiColombo, the southern hemisphere provides the best view of the flyby.