10 billion km in 3 minutes! Epic video captures a spacecraft's 8-year odyssey to planet Mercury - BBC Sky at Night Magazine
The European Space Agency and JAXA have released a compilation video documenting the BepiColombo spacecraft's eight-year journey to Mercury. The footage captures gravity-assist maneuvers past Earth, Venus, and Mercury as the probe prepares for its final orbital insertion.
Why it matters
This mission represents a significant milestone in planetary exploration, providing unprecedented data and imagery of the innermost planet in our solar system.
After nearly eight years navigating the inner Solar System, the BepiColombo mission has released incredible footage showing the spacecraft's voyage through the inner Solar System.
The video shows the BepiColombo probe zooming past planets Venus and Mercury, completing gravity-assist manoeuvres on its way to enter orbit around Mercury .
It's been compiled by European Space Agency and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency scientists to chronicle the spacecraft’s voyage toward the innermost planet of our Solar System.
Since its launch on October 20, 2018, BepiColombo has covered 9.9 billion km (6 billion miles) across the Solar System, completing nine separate gravity assists that have taken it past Earth once, Venus twice and Mercury six times.
These manoeuvres are used to reposition and slow down the spacecraft to place it into orbit around Mercury.
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