CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A spacecraft has sent back some of the clearest and most detailed photos taken of Mercury’s north pole. These stunning images were captured by the European and Japanese robotic explorer BepiColombo as it passed within 183 miles (295 kilometers) of Mercury’s night side. The spacecraft’s trajectory brought it directly over the planet’s north pole, offering unprecedented views of its permanently shadowed craters and volcanic plains.
The European Space Agency (ESA) released the images on Thursday, showcasing the planet’s north pole in remarkable detail. The photographs also highlight the large impact crater located on the planet’s surface, which spans over 930 miles (1,500 kilometers). This colossal crater provides insight into Mercury’s violent geological past, where large impacts have shaped its surface over millions of years.
The BepiColombo spacecraft, a collaboration between the European Space Agency and Japan’s JAXA, is on its sixth and final flyby of Mercury. The mission, which launched in 2018, is set to place the spacecraft into orbit around Mercury in late 2026. The spacecraft carries two orbiters—one for Europe and one for Japan—that will eventually study Mercury in greater detail, orbiting the planet’s poles to gather crucial data on its surface, magnetic field, and atmospheric conditions.
The spacecraft’s namesake, Giuseppe Colombo, was an Italian mathematician and scientist whose contributions played a pivotal role in advancing space exploration. He was instrumental in the success of NASA’s Mariner 10 mission to Mercury in the 1970s and later worked with the Italian Space Agency on the U.S. space shuttle program.
As BepiColombo continues its mission, the images provided offer a glimpse into Mercury’s fascinating and extreme environment, making this flyby a significant milestone in the ongoing exploration of our solar system’s smallest and innermost planet.
For additional insights into planetary exploration, visit NASA’s Planetary Science Division.
