ESA Science & Technology - BepiColombo

Science instruments aboard the European-Japanese Mercury explorer BepiColombo are in excellent condition to gather high-quality data during the spacecraft's long cruise to Mercury despite not having been designed for this purpose, teams collaborating on the mission learned during the spacecraft's April flyby of Earth.

The ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission completed its first flyby on 10 April, as the spacecraft came less than 12 700 km from Earth's surface at 06:25 CEST, steering its trajectory towards the final destination, Mercury.

On 10 April, BepiColombo will be visible to amateur and professional astronomers during its first – and only – Earth flyby, as the spacecraft makes its way to Mercury, the innermost planet of the Solar System.

Controllers at ESA's mission control centre are preparing for an Earth gravity-assist flyby of the European-Japanese Mercury explorer BepiColombo. The manoeuvre will be performed amid restrictions ESA has implemented in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

These are the winning entries in the photo competition for amateur astronomers who captured the unique event of the European-Japanese BepiColombo spacecraft's flyby of Earth.

The joint European-Japanese Mercury spacecraft BepiColombo took a series of final glimpses of Earth on 10 and 11 April 2020, as it moved away from our planet after the gravity-assist flyby performed in the early hours of 10 April.

A sequence of images taken by one of the MCAM selfie cameras on board of the European-Japanese Mercury mission BepiColombo as the spacecraft zoomed past the planet during its first and only Earth flyby. 

A sequence of images taken on 9 April 2020 by the MCAM selfie cameras on board of the European-Japanese Mercury mission BepiColombo as it neared Earth ahead of its gravity-assist flyby manoeuvre.