New images of Mercury captured by UK spacecraft BepiColombo

In a groundbreaking space mission, the BepiColombo spacecraft, which was launched in 2018, recently completed its sixth and final flyby of Mercury. During this flyby, the spacecraft swept as close as 183 miles above the planet's night side, providing unprecedented close-up images of the planet's north pole. These images, released by the European Space Agency, show a stunning array of craters, many of which remain in permanent shadow, hinting at the possibility of frozen water residing within them. Additionally, the spacecraft captured features like the vast volcanic plains and Mercury's largest impact crater, which measures over 930 miles in diameter. This mission is particularly significant as it sets the stage for BepiColombo to enter orbit around Mercury in late 2026. The spacecraft consists of two orbiters—one developed by the European Space Agency and the other by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency—which will be tasked with gathering long-term data about Mercury's composition and surface conditions. Notably, this flyby also marked the last opportunity for the monitoring cameras to capture close-up images before the separation of the imaging module from the orbiters. Named after the late Giuseppe Colombo, a prominent Italian mathematician, BepiColombo aims to unravel the mysteries of Mercury, which is known to be the smallest and innermost planet in our solar system. Its journey toward orbiting Mercury includes a planned series of nine flybys, allowing it to gain the necessary speed to be captured by the planet's gravity. After this final flyby, the mission's team emphasized the importance of analyzing the data collected to better understand Mercury's surface and potential for containing water ice. As part of its broader mission goals, BepiColombo will examine how Mercury was formed and evolved, determining its geological history and the nature of the materials on its surface. The mission has been carefully designed to withstand the extreme temperatures and radiation present in the vicinity of the Sun. Geraint Jones, the project scientist from the European Space Agency, expressed optimism regarding the findings from this latest flyby and highlighted the significance of the data in addressing many unanswered questions about the solar system's smallest planet.