BepiColombo spacecraft separate from carrier as they near Mercury
The twin craft of the BepiColombo mission disengaged from their cruise module on Thursday, with ESA controllers receiving the separation signal after a two‑hour interval. Having traveled more than 6 billion miles and performed nine planetary flybys, the probes are expected to enter Mercury’s orbit by November. After a further separation in December, the Mercury Planetary Orbiter will follow a low‑altitude path as close as 480 km while the Japanese Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter will adopt an elliptical orbit reaching up to 11,000 km. Mission manager Santa Martinez and operations chief Ignacio Tanco stressed the difficulty of operating so close to the Sun.
How this was covered
- Right-leaning outlets covered this 13h later
Why it matters
The mission will deliver the most detailed data yet on Mercury, deepening our understanding of the innermost planet and solar‑system formation.
How this story developed
- Sep 3 ESA's BepiColombo prepares for the toughest phase of its Mercury journey
- Sep 5 The spacecraft have separated from the cruise module.
