The European Space Agency’s (ESA) joint mission with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), BepiColombo, recently completed its sixth flyby of Mercury, providing stunning close-up images of the planet’s surface. The spacecraft successfully executed a gravity assist maneuver to steer itself towards orbit around the planet in late 2026.
During the flyby, monitoring cameras attached to the spacecraft captured breathtaking views of Mercury’s icy craters and vast sunlit plains. The images revealed permanently shadowed craters at the north pole, some containing frozen water, sparking curiosity about this key Mercury mystery. These dark craters are among the coldest places in the Solar System.
The flyby also showed the immense volcanic plains of Borealis Planitia, formed by runny lava 3.7 billion years ago. The plains, which extend over a large part of the surface, demonstrate how Mercury’s interior cooled down and contracted over billions of years. Notably, a massive impact crater, Caloris basin, was observed with its linear troughs radiating out from it.
Further observations highlighted the dark planet’s unique property: young features on the surface appear brighter than old ones due to material brought up from beneath being darker with age. Two images captured examples of volcanic activity and large impacts bringing bright material to the surface – the Nathair Facula, after the largest volcanic explosion on Mercury, and the relatively young Fonteyn crater.
BepiColombo’s next mission phase is expected to begin in 2027, with a possible one-year extension. The spacecraft will gather data during a one-year nominal mission, unraveling many of Mercury’s mysteries using the valuable information obtained from these flybys.
Source: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/BepiColombo/Top_three_images_from_BepiColombo_s_sixth_Mercury_flyby