As planned, the Mercury probe “BepiColombo” passed close to the smallest and closest planet to the sun on Monday evening. “The flyby was completely normal, no anomalies,” said the control center of the European space agency ESA in Darmstadt.
The exact data of the trajectory were not yet available. There was no permanent contact with the probe, which also took pictures of Mercury during the flight around its target planet.
According to the calculations, the research probe should approach the smallest planet in the solar system at 9:34 p.m. (CEST) to within about 236 kilometers. According to Esa, it was the third of a total of six flybys of the planet. These are necessary to slow down the probe due to the enormous gravitational pull of the sun.
The “BepiColombo” space probe was launched in October 2018 on its seven-year journey to the planet closest to the sun. With two satellites on board, it is scheduled to examine the surface and magnetic field of the celestial body from December 2025. The European-Japanese joint project with a total cost of around two billion euros is intended to contribute to a better understanding of the origins of the solar system. It is controlled from the Esa control center in Darmstadt.
