BepiColombo probe prepares for its first fly-by of Mercury

摘要

THE European and Japanese mission BepiColombo will make a fly-by of the solar system's innermost world on 1 October, diving to just 200 kilometres above the surface of sun-scorched Mercury. This will be the first of six fly-bys, which will lower BepiColombo's speed and help set up the spacecraft for getting into orbit around the planet in December 2025. "To be able to see our target up close for the first time during the [October] fly-by will be really special," says Emma Bunce at the University of Leicester, UK, who is principal investigator of the Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer instrument on BepiColombo.