On Thursday, a spacecraft operated by the European Space Agency and Japan made its closest approach yet to Mercury, sending back sharp, black-and-white images of the planet’s barren, speckled surface at sunrise.
The spacecraft, BepiColombo, gave scientists their first clear view of Mercury’s south pole.
It also captured several of the planet’s craters, including those with unusual rings of peaks within the basin’s rim.
David Rothery, a volcanologist at the Open University in England, refers to Mercury as “Lord of the Peak Rings.” The latest flyby “was perfect,” said Dr. Rothery, who is a member of BepiColombo’s science team.
It will go into orbit around Mercury in 2026, about a year after its original arrival time.
The delay was prompted by efforts to overcome problems with the spacecraft’s thrusters.
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The European Space Agency and Japan’s spacecraft reached Mercury at its closest point on Thursday morning, returning crisp, monochrome pictures of the planet’s arid, speckled surface.
For the first time, scientists were able to observe Mercury’s south pole clearly thanks to the spacecraft BepiColombo. Several craters on the planet were also captured, some of which had peculiar peak rings inside the rim of the basin.
“Lord of the Peak Rings” is how English volcanologist David Rothery describes Mercury. He works at the Open University. “.
As per Dr. Rothery, a member of the science team at BepiColombo, the latest flyby “was perfect.”. It exceeded my expectations in terms of detail and quality, as it was precisely what I had hoped to see. “.
In an email, the European Space Agency’s Johannes Benkhoff, project scientist for BepiColombo, said he was “shouting for joy” at the new photos. “It is such a relief to learn that everything went according to plan,” he continued. “.
2018 saw the launch of BepiColombo, a cooperative project involving the European and Japanese space agencies. It is scheduled to enter Mercury’s orbit in 2026, approximately one year after its initial arrival. The spacecraft’s thruster issues were resolved, but this caused a delay.
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