ESA/JAXA spacecraft set for second close encounter with Mercury next week

The joint European-Japanese BepiColombo mission is gearing up for its next close flyby of Mercury. This will be the second of six Mercury flybys overall the spacecraft will be making during its seven-year cruise to the least explored planet of the inner Solar System.

The closest approach of about 200 km altitude over the surface of Mercury is at 11:44 CEST on Thursday, June 23, the mission team tweeted on Thursday.

One week 'til our second #MercuryFlyby! Closest approach of about 200km altitude over the surface of #Mercury is at 11:44 CEST on Thurs 23 June. Join me early next week as we get closer, for more details! #StayTuned pic.twitter.com/1OT3RzSRSZ

— Bepi (@ESA_Bepi) June 16, 2022

Launched on 20 October 2018, BepiColombo is a joint mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). It is the second mission ever to orbit Mercury and the most complex one.

BepiColombo's first close flyby of the planet took place on 1-2 October 2021. During the October gravity assist manoeuvre, the spacecraft was at an altitude of 199 km from the planet's surface. The third Mercury flyby will take place on June 20, 2023.

Overall, the spacecraft will make use of nine planetary flybys - one at Earth, two at Venus, and six at Mercury, together with the spacecraft's solar electric propulsion system - to help steer on course for Mercury orbit in 2025.

The mission comprises two scientific orbiters: the ESA-led Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and JAXA's Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) to study all aspects of the planet - from the structure and dynamics of its magnetosphere and how it interacts with the solar wind, to its internal structure with its large iron core, and the origin of the planet’s magnetic field.

The European-Japanese BepiColombo mission is expected to begin its science operations in February 2026.