New images of Mercury captured by a spacecraft built in the UK

An image of the northern pole of Mercury captured by a monitoring chamber of the European Space Agency.

A spacecraft built in the UK captured new images of Mercury during its sixth and final flight before entering orbit in 2026.

BepiColombo was built by Astrid, now part of Airbus, located in Stevenage, and was launched in 2018.

This spacecraft consists of two satellites that will collect data for at least one year and needs a special protective system to withstand intense heat from the sun.

BepiColombo’s surveillance cameras captured images of the planet while the ship flew at an altitude of 295 km above Mercury’s surface, including images of the planet’s northern poles, illuminated by sunlight.

BepiColombo has a mission to reveal Mercury’s mysteries
It will try to determine Mercury’s composition and determine whether water could exist in some of the deepest craters of the planet.

To reach the speed needed to capture Mercury’s gravity, the ship needed nine flights close to Earth, Venus and Mercury.

This flight is the last time the monitoring cameras will be able to capture images of Mercury at close range, as the module in which they are mounted will separate from the two mission satellites before entering orbit.

Frank BudnikBepiColombo’s dynamic manager said: “The main phase of BepiColombo’s mission can only begin in two years, but all six of his flights around Mercury have provided invaluable information about this little planet.”

Geraint JonesBepiColombo’s European Space Agency scientist added: “Over the next few weeks, BepiColombo team will work hard to decipher as many of Mercury’s mysteries as possible with data from this flight.”

Source:bbc.com• Photo: bbc.com