BepiColombo begins risky arrival at Mercury, the solar system's least-known planet

The BepiColombo mission has begun a high-risk arrival phase at Mercury, the least understood planet, after a journey of over 10 billion kilometers since its launch in October 2018. The four-ton spacecraft completed nine planetary flybys to adjust its trajectory. ESA operations manager Ignacio Tanco warned of several months of delicate operations, with extreme temperatures from -180 to 450°C making orbital insertion particularly perilous. A critical first step is the autonomous separation of the two probes from the transfer module, occurring 200 million kilometers from Earth. Commands take at least 32 minutes to reach the vehicle, forcing fully automated procedures.