BepiColombo reaches Mercury after seven-year journey

The BepiColombo mission, a joint European-Japanese project, successfully separated its two science orbiters from the transfer module on Thursday, beginning its final approach to Mercury after a seven-year journey. The separation was confirmed at 9:53 a.m. ET, with the spacecraft reported healthy and operating as expected. The orbiters, ESA's Mercury Planetary Orbiter and JAXA's Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, will be captured by Mercury's gravity on Nov. 21 and fully separate from each other in December. Science operations are scheduled to begin in April, marking the first time two independent spacecraft will operate around another planet. Mercury's extreme proximity to the sun makes exploration difficult, with surface temperatures reaching 800 degrees Fahrenheit. The mission aims to study the planet's dense composition, magnetic field, and mysterious surface hollows, building on data from NASA's Mariner 10 and MESSENGER missions.