Mercury flyby tonight: Europe's BepiColombo spacecraft to attempt its 1st swing past the planet

[Judi Lynn]

By Tereza Pultarova about 7 hours ago

It will be the closest look at Mercury for BepiColombo of its entire mission.


A spacecraft bound for the planet Mercury will take a first look at the target tonight, when it makes its first-ever flyby of the small rocky world during an incredibly close flyby tonight.

The mission, called BepiColombo, is a joint project of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). It is only the second mission in history sent to orbit Mercury, the smallest and innermost planet of the solar system.

BepiColombo's flyby tonight (Oct. 1) will bring the spacecraft within just 124 miles (200 kilometers) of the surface of Mercury, the closest the probe will ever get to the planet during its mission. The first images from the encounter are expected to reach Earth early Saturday (Oct. 2) and will be the first close images of Mercury's scorched surface since the end of NASA's Messenger orbiter mission in 2015.



Artist impression of BepiColombo flying by Mercury on Oct. 1, 2021. (Image credit: ESA/ATG medialab)

BepiColombo will make its closest approach to Mercury at 7:34 p.m. EDT (2334 GMT) today (Oct.1), ESA said in a statement. The spacecraft will then continue on its winding trajectory around the sun.

More:
https://www.space.com/mercury-bepicolombo-first-flyby-ready?utm_source=notification