The European and Japanese mission BepiColombo has successfully completed the first of six flybys of the planet Mercury , its scientific target . On October 1 , the spacecraft was just 199 kilometers ( 123 mile ) over the open of the planet , permit it to take some stunningly elaborated images of the lowly planet .
“ The flyby was unflawed from the space vehicle point of view , and it ’s incredible to lastly see our target area satellite , ” Elsa Montagnon , Spacecraft Operations Manager for BepiColombo , say in astatement .
BepiColombo ’s monitoring camera require the first close - up look-alike of Mercury in over six years , revealing large impact craters and some of the ballistic capsule ’s own constituent . The last probe orbiting the planet was NASA ’s MESSENGER , which descend to a scheduled ending in 2015 when it bang into Mercury ’s surface at about 14,000 kilometers per 60 minutes ( 8,750 mph ) and created its own new volcanic crater on the planet ’s surface .
BepiColombo ’s stuffy point to Mercury was on the planet ’s nightside , at 11:34 postmortem UTC , so it was n’t idealistic to take photograph then . The images collected bug out about five minutes after the penny-pinching approach when the ballistic capsule was about 1,000 klick ( 600 miles ) forth and continued for four hours as it strike further and further from the major planet .
“ It was an unbelievable feeling view these almost - live pictures of Mercury , ” said Valentina Galluzzi , co - detective of BepiColombo ’s SIMBIO - SYS imaging system that will be used once in Mercury orbit . “ It really made me well-chosen coming together the planet I have been studying since the very first years of my inquiry career , and I am eager to put to work on new Mercury double in the future . ”
The part below render part of Mercury ’s northern cerebral hemisphere , let in Sihtu Planitia that has been deluge by lava . The Raduki plains , the smooth light country around the Calvino crater , can also be visualise . The 166 - kilometre - broad Lerminotov crater come out brighter than the others because it contains what is known as " hollow out " , features unique to Mercury where volatile elements are escape into space . BepuiCollomno will study these in greater detail when it find there .
Bepi also caught some of Mercury ’s southern cerebral hemisphere , as shown below here . The smooth level of the orotund volcanic crater , the 251 - km - wide Haydn crater , shows that it was once flooded by lava — as most of the plains were . Some of the smart spots go out on the surface are what is call " faculae " , which are thought to be material cast away out by volcanic explosions . These were discovered by MESSENGER and BepiColombo will find out more about them .
The two science orbiter on BepiColombo are ESA ’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter and JAXA ’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbit . They will map the satellite ’s surface and canvas its composition , valuate its magnetic force field and the flimsy layer of particles – its exosphere – around it . This will supply crucial cue to how Mercury formed and evolved .
Mercury might have lost most of its mass after a major hit , and the missionary station might supply evidence to reassert or abnegate that scenario . It will also tell us more about its volcanism and lava flows .
BepiColombo ’s main skill mission will begin in early 2026 , after orbital insertion in December 2025 . To retard down enough to get into Mercury ’s orbit without the usage of an unbelievable amount of fuel , it will completenine planetary flybys in total . Four are already in the purse : one at Earth , twoat Venus , and now the first one at Mercury . Five more Mercury flybys are set to take place , with the next on June 23 , 2022 .
