Page 5 - Planetary Orbiter News Today

A joint European-Japanese spacecraft got its first glimpse of Mercury as it swung by the solar system’s innermost planet while on a mission to deliver two probes into orbit in 2025.

BERLIN (AP) -- A joint European-Japanese spacecraft got its first glimpse of Mercury as it swung by the solar system's innermost planet while on a mission

The BepiColombo mission made the first of six flybys of Mercury on Friday.

A joint European-Japanese spacecraft got its first glimpse of Mercury as it swung by the solar system’s innermost planet while on a mission to deliver two...

A joint European-Japanese spacecraft got its first glimpse of Mercury as it swung by the solar system’s innermost planet while on a mission to deliver two...

A joint European-Japanese spacecraft got its first glimpse of Mercury as it swung by the solar system’s innermost planet while on a mission to deliver two...

BepiColombo, which is made up of two science orbiters from the European Space Agency and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, will make its first flyby of Mercury at 00:34 BST on Saturday.

Both the UK-built Solar Orbiter and the BepiColombo probe made a flyby of Venus this week, in a bid to use its gravity for a speed boost to their final destination.

The joint European-Japanese BepiColombo craft snapped a black-and-white image of Venus while it was 977 miles away. The image shows the curve of the planet and parts of the spacecraft.