BepiColombo

On October 1, 2021, a pair of small spacecraft got their first good look at the closest planet to the Sun, revealing the strange process through which Mercury produces its own auroras.Threads Needs These Five Missing Features to Be a Twitter KillerBepiColombo, a joint mission by the European Space Agency (ESA) and Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), launched in October 2018 and is still on its way to enter Mercury’s orbit in 2025. Until then, the spacecraft duo has been conducting a series of six flybys of…

A probe is familiarizing itselfwith the closest planet to the Sun, gearing up to explore Mercury’s heavily cratered surface. The BepiColombo mission recently captured stunning new images of Mercury during a close flyby, which resulted in the naming of an impact crater after a pioneering Jamaican artist.Astronomers Could Soon Get Warnings When SpaceX Satellites Threaten Their ViewBepiColombo, a joint mission by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), made its closest approach to…

Mercury crosses the Sun in new video from the Solar Orbiter.Gif: Gizmodo (Video: ESA, NASA/Solar Orbiter/EUI Team)On January 3, the Solar Orbiter spotted Mercury passing in front of the Sun. The transit of the small, dark orb puts the scale of our solar system into sharp relief.Mercury is about one-third the size of Earth, and it looks particularly teeny next to the Sun’s 865,000-mile diameter. The Solar Orbiter is a joint mission between NASA and the European Space Agency; it launched in 2020 and takes measurements of…

Two spacecraft flew past Venus recently in a rare double flyby that captured unique imagery and data. This data is now being analysed, but scientists at the European Space Agency (ESA) have been able to translate some of it into sounds to let people experience how it would feel if a gigantic planet flew next to them. The ESA shared a video, asking people to “enjoy the sights, sounds and ‘feels' of a Venus flyby”. It said the video showed the round-up of first impressions of the data recorded by the spacecraft so far.Enjoy…

The European Space Agency's (ESA) BepiColombo mission successfully completed its second flyby of Mercury, capturing 56 intricate images in the process, according to the agency. The joint project developed by the ESA and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is tasked with examining the least explored planet in the inner solar system. During its closest approach to Mercury on June 23, the probe was around 200 km above the surface, capturing close-up images of the planet using its three onboard monitoring cameras.“We…

BepiColombo, a joint mission of European Space Agency's (ESA) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa), successfully completed the second of its six encounters with Mercury -- about 200 km above the planet's surface.The spacecraft, which is on its way to the mysterious innermost planet of the solar system Mercury, aims to enter the planet's orbit in 2025.It made the second encounter with Mercury at 09:44 UTC (3:14 pm IST) on June 23, and just as the first one on October 1. It captured an amazing array of the planet's…

The joint European-Japanese BepiColombo mission captured this view of Mercury on June 23, 2022, as the spacecraft flew past the planet for its second of six gravity assist maneuvers at Mercury. This image was taken at 09:51:07 UTC by the Mercury Transfer Module’s Monitoring Camera 3, when the spacecraft was 1406 km (874 miles) from the surface of Mercury. Closest approach of 200 km (124 miles) took place shortly before, at 09:44 UTC. In this view, north is up. Credit: ESA/BepiColombo/MTM, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGOThe ESA/<span…

Artist impression of BepiColombo flying by Mercury. The spacecraft makes nine gravity assist maneuvers (one of Earth, two of Venus, and six of Mercury) before entering orbit around the innermost planet of the Solar System in 2025. Credit: ESA/ATG medialabThe ESA/<span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip="<div class=glossaryItemTitle>JAXA</div><div class=glossaryItemBody>Formed in 2003, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) was born through the…