They’re not a perfect match, but it’s way too hot on the first planet for us to hop over and confirm for ourselves.

BepiColombo is operated by the ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency ().The probe launched in 2018 atop an Ariane 5 rocket on an eight-year voyage that will place it in orbit around Mercury.

The BepiColombo spacecraft has sent back some incredibly detailed images of Mercury’s north pole. The snapshots were collected during its closest ever flyby of our solar system’s smallest ...

BepiColombo, a joint European-Japanese mission, completed its latest flyby of Mercury, sending back a sneak peek of the cratered planet it will begin to orbit in 2026.

An artist illustrates BepiColombo before its component parts separate. ESA/ATG Medialab. If all goes well, Bepi will cruise through space for about seven years before it reaches orbit around Mercury.

The European-Japanese BepiColombo spacecraft headed to Mercury can be seen flying low above the atmosphere of Venus in a new video released by the European Space Agency (ESA) on Thursday (Aug. 12).

BepiColombo’s chemical thrusters will stabilize the orbit gradually and, after traveling 5.5 billion miles (8.9 billion km), the mission will at last be underway.

Now, the ESA and JAXA’s BepiColombo is giving us new glimpses of the first planet in our solar system. Three new images captured this week showcase the little planet in amazing detail.

The BepiColombo space mission made its first flyby of Mercury around 7:34 p.m. ET on Friday and passed within 124 miles (200 kilometers) of the planet’s surface. BepiColombo will collect science ...

BepiColombo, which is made up of two science orbiters from the European Space Agency and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, will make its first flyby of Mercury at 00:34 BST on Saturday.

BepiColombo will be only the second mission in history to orbit Mercury, the scorched rocky planet close to the sun. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate ...

BepiColombo launch and separation timeline. ESA. At that time it will make a "gravity-assist" flyby—using the Earth's gravity to swing itself inwards towards Venus. There will also be a gravity ...