BepiColombo begins months-long arrival at Mercury

The European-Japanese BepiColombo mission has begun its complex, months-long arrival at Mercury after its two orbiters successfully separated from the transfer module on Thursday, the European Space Agency announced. The spacecraft are now approaching the planet together. The Mercury Planetary Orbiter from ESA and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter from Japan's JAXA remain connected as they approach Mercury. After being captured by the planet's gravity, they will separate in December and enter different orbits, with scientific operations scheduled to begin in April. Launched in October 2018, the two-billion-euro mission aims to study Mercury's surface and magnetic field to understand the solar system's origins. The arrival was delayed by one year due to 2024 thruster problems that reduced power to 90 percent capacity. Mercury remains the least explored rocky planet due to the extreme difficulty of reaching it.