Artist's impression of the BepiColombo Mercury orbiter in front of Mercury
Artist's impression of the BepiColombo Mercury orbiter in front of Mercury
An artist's impression of BepiColombo in its final orbital configuration with Mercury in the background. After a sixth and final close flyby of Mercury on 8 January 2025, the ESA space probe will enter Mercury's orbit in November 2026. The Mercury Transfer Module can be seen here with active thrusters and solar panels deployed, spanning 30 metres from tip to tip. In the centre, the seven-and-a-half metre long solar array of the Mercury Planetary Orbiter points upwards. In this image, the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter is hidden inside the solar shield. The BepiColombo mission is named after the Italian mathematician and engineer Giuseppe 'Bepi' Colombo (1920-1984).
