New images of Mercury taken by Britain’s Beppy Columbo spacecraft

A UK-built spacecraft has captured new images of Mercury as it makes its sixth and final flyby before entering the planet’s orbit in 2026.

BepiColombo was built by Stevenage-based company Astrium, now Airbus, and launched in 2018.

The spacecraft includes two satellites that will collect data for at least a year, and it needs a special shield to withstand the sun’s heat.

Surveillance cameras on the spacecraft captured images of the planet as it flew 295 kilometers (183 miles) above Mercury’s surface, including views of the planet’s north poles as it was illuminated by sunlight. .

Beppi Columbo will try to determine what Mercury is actually made of, and whether water could exist in the planet’s deep craters.

It needed to make nine flybys of Earth, Venus, and Mercury before it could reach the right speed to be captured by Mercury’s gravity.

The flyby marks the last time the surveillance cameras will take close-up images of Mercury, as the spacecraft module they are attached to will now separate from the mission’s two satellites before heading into orbit.

Frank Budnick, Bepi Colombo flight dynamics manager, said: “Bepi Colombo’s main mission phase may only begin two years from now, but all six of its flybys of Mercury have told us about the little discovered planet. I have provided invaluable new information.”

Geraint Jones, Bepi Colombo project scientist at the European Space Agency, added: “Over the next few weeks, the Bepi Colombo team will be working hard to unlock as many of Mercury’s mysteries as possible from the data from this flyby.”