BepiColombo separates from transfer module, begins Mercury arrival phase
ESA and JAXA's BepiColombo shed its transfer module and began final approach to Mercury, orbit insertion set for November 21.
what happened
BepiColombo's Mercury Transfer Module separated from the spacecraft stack on September 3, confirmed via acquisition of signal through ESA's Estrack deep-space antennas in Cebreros, Spain and Malargue, Argentina, per ESA's own mission update. The two science orbiters, ESA's Mercury Planetary Orbiter and JAXA's Mio, are now flying free toward orbit insertion at Mercury, targeted for November 21, 2026; MPO and Mio will separate from each other on December 9-10, and the mission's science phase is set to begin in April 2027, per ESA.
why it matters
The separation opens BepiColombo's most operationally complex phase after nearly eight years and billions of kilometres of cruise since its 2018 launch. It is only the second mission ever to attempt orbit around Mercury, after NASA's MESSENGER, and the next hard milestones, orbit insertion in November and orbiter separation in December, will test whether ESA and JAXA's joint arrival sequence holds up before science operations start in 2027.
signal-to-noise
quick facts
- Companies
- European Space Agency, JAXA
- Category
- science
- Impact
- notable
- SNR
- 5 / 5
- Event date
- 2026-09-03
- Published
- 2026-09-05 05:30 UTC