BepiColombo - Exploring Mercury

Europe's first mission to Mercury

Welcome to ESA's website for the BepiColombo scientific community and the BepiColombo Science Ground Segment. The target audience for this site is scientists  and engineers involved in the BepiColombo mission. ESA pages for the general public interested in the BepiColombo mission can be found here . Next milestone: Flyby No 6 on 8 January 2025 at 6:59 CET closest Approach (300km from the surface)


​​​​​​​This year was a very special and at the end also a very successful year for BepiColombo. In the beginning of the year, we encountered issues with our Solar Panels which were no longer able to provide the power we had used as a baseline for our mission plan. Consequently, there was the high risk that the mission could not be finished as planned. In the end – thanks to the great engagement of many people in our teams on all sides – we managed to perform two flybys as planned and redefine our mission without compromising science goals and performance. The only impact left is a one year delay of the start of our in-orbit science phase. However, we have still a long and challenging way in front of us, but we are confident that we will see fantastic results from our instruments in the coming years. Many thanks to all for your support during this year. Happy Holidays and all the best to you and your families and friends in 2025. Stay strong – go BepiColombo go!

An overview paper about the mission and its science goals was published in 2021: Benkhoff, J., Murakami, G., Baumjohann, W., et al. BepiColombo - Mission Overview and Science Goals. Space Sci Rev 217, 90 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-021-00861-4

BepiColombo Mercury Flyby#5

1 December 2024

Mercury flyby 5 has been successfully completed. Closest Approach was reached on 1 December 2025. The flyby distance was about 37626km from the surface. The BepiColombo team has also updated the trajectory of the spacecraft.

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Next SWT in Rome

23 October 2024 Registration is open for our up-coming Science Working Team Meeting. The meeting will be hosted by Stefano Orsini and our MORE colleagues in Rome, Italy. The meeting will be held from 10-13 June 2025 @Università La Sapienza by Piazza San Pietro in Vincoli. read more

BepiColombo Mercury Flyby#4

2 September 2024 Mercury flyby 4 is coming up. Closest Approach will be on 4 September. The estimated flyby distance is about 165km from the surface. The BepiColombo team has also updated the trajectory of the spacecraft. read more

MERCURY2024

24 April 2024 we kindly remind you the due dates of the upcoming Mercury 2024 meeting on 4-7 June 2024 in Kyoto, Japan. The abstract submission deadline: 30 April 2024, 23:59JST/16:59CEST/10:59EDT The in-person registration deadline: 16 May 2024, 23:59JST/16:59CEST/10:59EDT Please submit and register ASAP by the due dates above. read more

Flyby#3 completed successfully

20 June 2023 Yes we did it again! On June 19 at around 19:34 BepiColombo successfully performed its third flyby. We got some nice results from our instruments and the monitoring cameras on MTM. Have a look and read more! Thanks to our communications and Mcam expert team for preparing this nice web story. read more

BepiColombo 3rd Flyby

18 June 2023 Mercury flyby 3 is coming up. Closest Approach will be on 19 June at 19:34:25 UTC. The estimated flyby distance is about 236 km from the surface. read more

Archival Research Visitor Programme

9 March 2023 To increase the scientific return from its space science missions, ESA welcomes applications from scientists interested in pursuing research based on publicly available data in the ESA Space Science Archives. The Archives host data from all current and past ESA space science missions in astronomy, planetary science, and heliophysics. read more

Spacecraft 3D Model

Do you want to explore our spacecraft in more detail? If yes click 3D-MODEL

Where is BepiColombo & Attitude Viewer

Interactive 3D tools showing the spacecraft attitude and where the BepiColombo spacecraft is on any given day from launch in October 2018 to just beyond the end of its cruise phase end of 2025. To play with the tools click here.

 

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