BepiColombo reaches Mercury: Liège researcher joins mission to unlock Earth's origins

The BepiColombo mission successfully completed the separation of its modules near Mercury this week, a critical operation confirmed from Earth after a ten-minute signal delay. The achievement marks a major milestone for the joint European-Japanese project. The mission, which took eight years and roughly 10 billion kilometers to reach Mercury, faced a delay last year due to solar panel power issues. Liège University planetologist Bernard Charlier, part of the mission, noted the difficulty of accessing Mercury explains the limited knowledge of the planet. Mercury is a rocky planet with a magnetic field, thin atmosphere, and large core, but its hostile environment features extreme temperature contrasts. The two satellites will study its surface, internal structure, and environment, with data collection running through 2029 and analysis expected to continue for a decade.