BepiColombo prepares for spacecraft separation ahead of Mercury orbit insertion
ESA and JAXA's BepiColombo mission will separate its Mercury Transfer Module from the two orbiters on Sept. 3, beginning the final phase that will place each probe into polar orbit around Mercury after a delayed eight-year journey.
The joint ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission is set to begin its final approach to Mercury on Sept. 3, when the Mercury Transfer Module will detach from the two science orbiters that have traveled together since launch in October 2018. The separation will be streamed live on ESA’s YouTube channel.
The twin spacecraft – ESA’s Mercury Planet Orbiter and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetosphere Orbiter – were originally slated to arrive in December 2025, but a power-related glitch forced a change in trajectory that postponed the arrival by several months. After the transfer module separates, the orbiters will use the Mercury Planet Orbiter’s chemical thrusters to enter a shared polar orbit, after which the Mercury Planet Orbiter will eject its twin, spin up, discard its sunshield and continue on its own trajectory.
BepiColombo, the third mission to reach Mercury, previously performed a flyby in October 2021 and has been returning close-up images and scientific data on the planet’s surface, interior and magnetic environment.