BepiColombo

ESA / JAXA

Agency

ESA / JAXA

Country

🇪🇺🇯🇵 Europe / Japan

Launched

2018-10-20

Flyby date

2020-04-10

Closest approach

11,639 km

Mass

~4,100 kg

Key Findings

1.Gravity-assist manoeuvre en route to Mercury, providing a trajectory-shaping energy change
2.MERTIS thermal infrared spectrometer imaged Mars's atmospheric limb during closest approach
3.Magnetometer suite measured the Mars plasma environment and bow shock structure
4.Monitoring cameras captured imagery of Mars and its limb from the stacked spacecraft stack
5.Demonstrated joint ESA-JAXA deep-space operations capability across agencies and instrument teams

Mission Outcome

BepiColombo performed a Mars gravity assist on April 10, 2020, the first of several planetary swing-bys required to reach Mercury without excessive propellant cost. Despite operating within the constrained stacked-spacecraft configuration (Mercury Transfer Module + Mercury Planetary Orbiter + Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter), several science instruments successfully observed Mars's upper atmosphere and plasma environment during the approach. BepiColombo arrived at Mercury in late 2025.