Mission · Mercury
BepiColombo
Two orbiters travelling together: ESA's Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and JAXA's Mio
- Status
- Arriving
- Launched
- 20 Oct 2018
- Target
- Mercury
- Agencies
- ESA, JAXA
- Next
- 21 Nov 2026 Mercury orbit insertion
Summary
A joint ESA–JAXA mission: two orbiters, Europe's MPO (mapping, interior, surface) and Japan's Mio (magnetosphere), are flying to Mercury as one stack. It will be only the second mission ever to orbit Mercury, after NASA's MESSENGER.
Now as of 3 Nov 2026
The Mercury Transfer Module (MTM) separated on 3 September 2026; since then MPO has been propelling the MPO + Mio stack. MPO's instruments have been checked and are in good health. On 21 November 2026 Mercury's gravity captures the spacecraft and it enters orbit; MPO and Mio separate on 9–10 December. The science phase begins in April 2027 (ESA, live updates).
Key dates
- 20 Oct 2018Launch (Ariane 5, Kourou)done
- 8 Jan 2025Sixth and final Mercury flybydone
- 3 Sep 2026Mercury Transfer Module separatesdone
- 24 Sep 2026First trajectory correction with MPO's thrusters: 8 min 42 s, 11.4 m/sdone
- 21 Nov 2026Mercury orbit insertionplanned
- 9–10 Dec 2026MPO and Mio separateplanned
- Apr 2027Science phase beginsplanned
Sources differ on the arrival date: ESA's overview page says December 2026 and an EPSC2026 abstract says 26 November, while ESA's live-updates page (6 October 2026) gives 21 November. This page follows the live updates.
Timeline
- 6 Oct 2026All MPO instruments switched on together for the first time (15 September): BELA fired more than 700,000 laser pulses and SIMBIO-SYS took its first image in space — ESA
- 24 Sep 2026MPO's axial thrusters tested in the first planned correction after MTM separation — ESA
- 3 Sep 2026MTM separation confirmed at 14:52 BST — ESA
- Sep 2024Power problems with the MTM's ion thrusters moved arrival from December 2025 to November 2026 — JAXA/ISAS, Space.com