Spacecraft
BepiColombo
Two orbiters, European and Japanese, travelling to Mercury stacked together on one transfer module. Getting there means shedding speed rather than gaining it, which takes nine flybys and seven years of ion thrust; the pair separate into their own orbits at the end of 2026 to study the planet's magnetic field and its oversized core.
- Agency
- ESA/JAXA
- Launched
- 2018-10-20 - still working
Path
A cruise spiralling inward on an ion engine and nine flybys, because falling towards the Sun means shedding speed rather than gaining it. It ends in orbit round Mercury in late 2026.
Along the way
- Earth flyby, the only one of the trip
- First Venus flyby
- First Mercury flyby
- Sixth and last Mercury flyby, before going into orbit
Everything the map shows is worked out in your browser from published orbital data - nothing on it is a stored picture of where things were.