# BepiColombo

*Spacecraft*

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 |
| From the Sun | 62,549,869 km (+705,222 km/d) |
| From the Earth | 206,704,993 km (-428,108 km/d) |
| A signal takes | 11 min |
| Travelling at | 44.6 km/s |

Distances and speed are computed from JPL Horizons trajectories and are true of 2026-09-05, changing at the rate given beside each. The interpolation itself is good to a few kilometres; what ages these figures is the date, not the arithmetic.

## 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

- 2020-04-10 — Earth flyby, the only one of the trip
- 2020-10-15 — First Venus flyby
- 2021-10-01 — First Mercury flyby
- 2026-01-08 — Sixth and last Mercury flyby, before going into orbit

## Elsewhere

- On the live map: https://www.orbitalmap.space/?world=solar-system&focus=bepicolombo
- The mission's own page: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/BepiColombo
- This object as a page: https://www.orbitalmap.space/o/bepicolombo/
- Every object: https://www.orbitalmap.space/o/
- What this site is and what it reads: https://www.orbitalmap.space/llms.txt