European-Japanese spacecraft on the way to make its third close Mercury flyby

The BepiColombo mission, a joint endeavour between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), is on its way to the next close flyby of Mercury - the innermost planet of our Solar System - in June 2023.

The spacecraft lifted off on an Ariane 5 on October 20, 2018, to study the mysteries of Mercury. It comprises two science orbiters - ESA's Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and JAXA's Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO). Together, the two orbiters will investigate the planet to advance humanity's understanding of the planet and ultimately our Solar System.

The June 2023 flyby will be the third of six Mercury flybys the spacecraft is scheduled to make before entering into orbit around Mercury in 2025. The mission will use a combination of gravity assist flybys - with one flyby of Earth, two at Venus, and six at Mercury - and solar electric propulsion to reduce its speed and reach its destination.

For a close up look at Mercury, @BepiColombo is on its way to a next close flyby of the planet in June 2023. Meanwhile, Solar Orbiter makes its next close pass of the Sun in April 😎 #StayTuned #ExploreFarther #WeAreAllSolarOrbiters👉 https://t.co/LM3gk4A23x pic.twitter.com/DBcPibBY4d

— ESA's Solar Orbiter (@ESASolarOrbiter) February 20, 2023

Meanwhile, the NASA/ESA Solar Orbiter is also gearing up for its next close pass of the Sun, called perihelia, on April 10, 2023. Launched in 2020, it is the most complex scientific laboratory ever to have been sent to the Sun for a close up look at our life-giving star.

Solar Orbiter's mission is to perform unprecedented close-up observations of the Sun and from high inclinations, providing the first images of the uncharted polar regions of the star, and investigating the Sun-Earth connection. The spacecraft is equipped with a suite of scientific instruments - six remote-sensing instruments and four in situ instruments - to achieve this goal.