BepiColombo: mission and targets

Project start

October 20, 2018

Declared end

not declared

The start the archive declares is the start of the project, not the launch, and an end it does not declare does not mean the mission is still running.

Targets you can open in 3D:

• Earth
• Mercury
• Venus

Spacecraft of this mission that Galaxy follows:

• BepiColombo

A declared target is what the archive files the mission’s data under, not a record of observation.

BepiColombo is Europe's first mission to Mercury. It has been defined as a collaboration between ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), executed under ESA leadership. The mission comprises two spacecraft: the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO), built by ESA, and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO), built by JAXA, which are dedicated to the detailed study of the planet and its magnetosphere respectively. Their orbits have therefore been optimised accordingly. The ESA-built Mercury Transfer Module (MTM) is carrying both MMO and MPO. The MPO is a three-axis-stabilized and nadir-pointing spacecraft designed for an operational lifetime of one Earth year (with a possible extension of one year). The MPO will be placed in an inertially fixed polar orbit; the spacecraft has one axis aligned with the nadir direction to allow continuous nadir observation of the planet. The MPO’s 2.3-hour low-eccentricity orbit will provide excellent spatial resolution over the entire planet’s surface. The MPO science payload will investigate Mercury’s interior, surface composition and morphology, intrinsic magnetic field, the composition of the exosphere and the coupling between all of these aspects. The MMO is a spin-stabilized spacecraft after it is separated from the MPO following the Mercury orbit insertion. The MMO is optimized for in-situ plasma and electromagnetic fields and waves measurements in Mercury orbit. The MTM provides the acceleration and braking required during Cruise to reach the eventual capture by Mercury and the large amount of power required by the solar electric propulsion system. BepiColombo was launched on 20 October 2018 on an Ariane 5 from Kourou, with arrival to Mercury in November 2026 after several Venus and Mercury flybys. The nominal mission is 1 year with a possible 1-year extension. See instrument context products for more information on the instruments in the PSA bundle, and the BepiColombo bundle for information on the mission phases

Quoted in English, as the archive publishes it, read on October 4, 2026.

Identifier in the archive, which is its citation: urn:esa:psa:context:investigation:mission.bc

NASA Planetary Data System, PDS Registry, investigation context products. Dates and targets read on September 29, 2026; how to cite the archive: https://pds.nasa.gov/datastandards/citing/

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