BepiColombo’s Interstellar Voyage: Third Mercury Encounter Uncovers Geological Marvels

The BepiColombo mission, a joint venture of ESA/JAXA, has triumphantly executed its third flyby of Mercury, capturing invaluable photos of geological marvels, including the newly named Manley Crater. Through the continuous ‘thruster arcs’, the spacecraft is steadily modifying its course for entry into Mercury’s orbit in 2025. The primary scientific phase of the mission will commence in early 2026 after several more trajectory adjustments and another flyby scheduled for 2024. (Artist impression of BepiColombo conducting a flyby of Mercury.) Credit: ESA/ATG medialab

In its third out of six gravity-assist flybys at Mercury, the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission has captured images of a recently named impact crater, along with tectonic and volcanic features of interest, as it fine-tunes its path to enter Mercury’s orbit in 2025.

The nearest approach transpired at 19:34 UTC (21:34 CEST) on June 19, 2023, hovering approximately 236 km (147 miles) above the planet’s surface, on its night side.

“The flyby went exceptionally smoothly, and images taken from the monitoring cameras during the close approach phase of the flyby have been transmitted back to Earth,” states Ignacio Clerigo, ESA’s BepiColombo Spacecraft Operations Manager.

Images taken by the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo spacecraft during its third flyby of Mercury on June 19, 2023, revealed various geological formations, including the newly designated Manley impact crater. The onboard monitoring cameras, which provide black-and-white snapshots in 1024 x 1024 pixel resolution, captured these images. Credit: ESA/BepiColombo/MTM

Despite the next Mercury flyby not taking place until September 2024, the mission faces significant challenges in the meantime: the upcoming long solar electric propulsion ‘thruster arc’ is slated to begin in early August and run until mid-September. Along with the flybys, these thruster arcs play a pivotal role in helping BepiColombo decelerate against the Sun’s colossal gravitational pull before entering orbit around Mercury.

The Mercury Transfer Module of the BepiColombo mission is furnished with three monitoring cameras (M-CAMs), offering black-and-white snapshots in 1024 x 1024 pixel resolution. The camera positions are denoted with orange icons, and example fields of view are illustrated. M-CAM 1 surveys the extended solar array of the MTM, while M-CAM 2 and 3 direct their gaze toward the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO). Depending on the spacecraft’s deployable parts’ rotations, a variety of orientations might be seen in the actual images. Credit: ESA

Geological Curiosities

In the course of the close encounter last night, monitoring camera 3 took numerous images of the rocky planet. The black-and-white snapshots, taken in 1024 x 1024 pixel resolution, were downloaded overnight until early this morning. Three ‘early release’ images have been presented here.

Upon the spacecraft’s approach on the night side of the planet, a handful of features began to emerge from the shadows approximately 12 minutes following the closest approach, when BepiColombo had already traveled about 1800 km (1100 miles) from the surface. The planet’s surface became ideally lit for imaging about 20 minutes after the close approach and beyond, corresponding to a distance of roughly 3500 km (2200 miles). A plethora of geological features, including a newly named crater, are visible in these to make you happy.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about BepiColombo Mercury Flyby

More about BepiColombo Mercury Flyby

• BepiColombo: Overview
• Mercury Exploration
• ESA’s BepiColombo Mission
• The Geological Wonders of Mercury
• The Significance of Manley Crater