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Agence France-Presse

The European-Japanese BepiColombo spacecraft has sent back its first images of Mercury, the nearest planet to the Sun, the European Space Agency said on Saturday.
The images were obtained almost three years after the unmanned mission vessel was launched aboard an Ariane 5 Rocket.
The cameras attached the BepiColombo provided black-and-white images, the ESA said in a statement.

But as the spacecraft arrived on the night side of the planet, conditions were “not ideal” for taking images at its closest approach to the planet, an altitude of 199km (124 miles), so the closest was from about 1,000km.
The region shown is part of Mercury’s northern hemisphere, including large craters and an area flooded by lava billions of years ago.
“The fly-by was flawless from the spacecraft point of view, and it’s incredible to finally see our target planet,” said Elsa Montagnon, Spacecraft Operations Manager for the mission.
The BepiColombo mission will study all aspects of this mysterious inner planet from its core to surface processes, magnetic field and exosphere, “to better understand the origin and evolution of a planet close to its parent star,” said the agency.
Mercury is also the only rocky planet orbiting the Sun besides our own to have a magnetic field.
Countdown begins as Europe and Japan prepare spacecraft for 7-year journey to Mercury
Magnetic fields are generated by a liquid core but given its size, Mercury’s should have grown cold and solid by now, as Mars did.
This anomaly might be due to some feature of the core’s composition, something BepiColombo’s instruments will measure with much greater precision than has been possible so far.
On its surface, Mercury is a planet of extremes, vacillating between hot days of about 430 degrees Celsius (more than 800 degrees Fahrenheit) to super-frosty nights of minus 180 degrees Celsius (minus 290 degrees Fahrenheit).
Those days and nights last nearly three Earth months each.
Earlier missions have detected evidence of ice in the deepest recesses of the planet’s polar craters.
China delays launch of next mission to Tiangong space station
Scientists speculate that this may have accumulated from comets crashing onto Mercury’s surface.
BepiColombo is due to make five more fly-bys of Mercury during a complex trajectory that will also see the satellite fly past Venus and Earth.
It could not be sent directly to Mercury, as the Sun’s pull is so strong that a huge braking manoeuvre would be needed to place the satellite successfully, requiring too much fuel for a spacecraft of this size. The mission will last for around another five years.
The gravity exerted by the Earth and Venus – known as gravitational assist – allows it to slow down “naturally” during its journey.


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Space

European-Japanese spacecraft BepiColombo captures images of Mercury

A view of Mercury captured on Friday by the joint European-Japanese BepiColombo mission. Photo: European Space Agency / AFP

epa09499429 An undated handout picture made available by the European Space Agency (ESA) shows an artist impression of the BepiColombo probe flying by Mercury (issued 01 October 2021). The spacecraft makes nine gravity assist manoeuvres (one of Earth, two of Venus and six of Mercury) before entering orbit around the innermost planet of the Solar System in 2025. The closest approach is at 23:34 UTC on 01 October (01:34 CEST on 02 October) at a distance of 200 km, capturing imagery and science data. BepiColombo is an international collaboration between ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). EPA-EFE/ESA/ATG MEDIALAB HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

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The Shenzhou 13 crew is expected to spend six months at the space station. Photo: Weibo

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The Tianzhou 3 cargo spacecraft blasts off from the Wenchang launch site on Monday. Photo: Xinhua

epa03740859 A picture made available on 12 June 2013 shows Chinese female astronaut Wang Yaping waves to the audience before boarding a spacecraft in Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest, China, 11 June 2013. Three astronauts are onboard a Shenzhou-10 spaceship on a 15-day mission to an experimental space lab, the longest time Chinese astronauts have spent in space.  EPA/LIU HUAIYU CHINA OUT

China releases new Mars images as nation marks 100 days of red planet exploration

The Zhu Rong rover has been exploring Mars for 100 days. Photo. CNSA via Xinhua

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The images were obtained almost three years after the unmanned mission vessel was launched aboard an Ariane 5 Rocket
The BepiColombo mission will study all aspects of this mysterious inner planet from its core to surface processes, magnetic field and exosphere



The images were obtained almost three years after the unmanned mission vessel was launched aboard an Ariane 5 Rocket.


Japan

France

European-Japanese spacecraft BepiColombo captures images of Mercury

The images were obtained almost three years after the unmanned mission vessel was launched aboard an Ariane 5 Rocket The BepiColombo mission will study all aspects of this mysterious inner planet from its core to surface processes, magnetic field and exosphere

The images were obtained almost three years after the unmanned mission vessel was launched aboard an Ariane 5 Rocket

The BepiColombo mission will study all aspects of this mysterious inner planet from its core to surface processes, magnetic field and exosphere