The first images are back from a spacecraft that, on Sept. 4, got to within just 102.5 miles (165 kilometers) of the surface of Mercury, the closest it will ever get. The European Space Agency’s $1.8 billion BepiColombo vehicle snapped images of the inner planet’s polar regions and cratered surface as it zoomed by.
The flyby was the seventh of its long journey around the solar system—one of Earth, two of Venus and three of Mercury—as it attempts to lose energy and steer itself into orbit around Mercury during a long and complex journey. This latest flyby reduced the spacecraft’s speed and changed its direction.
During the flyby, which culminated at 21:48 UTC on Sept. 4, BepiColombo took images and tested 10 scientific instruments, which included taking measurements of how the solar wind interacts with the planet’s magnetic field.
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