European-Japanese space mission gets 1st glimpse of Mercury

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

BERLIN (AP) — A joint European-Japanese spacecraft got its first glimpse of Mercury as it swung by the solar system’s innermost planet while on a mission to deliver two probes into orbit in 2025.

The BepiColombo mission made the first of six flybys of Mercury at 11:34 p.m. GMT (7:34 p.m. EST) Friday, using the planet’s gravity to slow the spacecraft down.

After swooping past Mercury at altitudes of under 200 kilometers (125 miles), the spacecraft took a low resolution black-and-white photo with one of its monitoring cameras before zipping off again.

The European Space Agency said the captured image shows the Northern Hemisphere and Mercury’s characteristic pock-marked features, among them the 166-kilometer-wide (103-mile-wide) Lermontov crater.



This image made available by the European Space Agency (ESA) shows planet Mercury taken by the joint European-Japanese BepiColombo spacecraft Mercury Transfer Module’s Monitoring Camera 2, Friday, Oct. 1, 2021. (ESA via AP)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/science-business-planets-solar-system-mercury-b3273a7e3772e4b105f8f703823bc45f

[Tommymac]

1. Just out of this world.

Bravo!!!

[Shanti Shanti Shanti]

2. Looks like a dead burnt cratered moon to me, we should be drilling Europa! Oceans under the ice!

[blugbox]

4. All these worlds are yours, except Europa.

Attempt no landing there.





In all seriousness though, I completely agree! I'm tired of these dead rocks I have lived my whole life in the desert... looks just like that haha

[Shanti Shanti Shanti]

5. Enceladus is a little farther away, but the cracks to the subsurface are already there, fly in!

[electric_blue68]

10. Alot of N Arizona's desert was colorful...

.Visited The Navajo including Monument Valley, and Hopi Nations. Later on The Grand Canyon.

Yeah, there was some beige, and brown, but also shaded light to medium purples, rust oranges, here and there near rusted reds, ochers, pale yellows, etc.

It was glorious! Mars reminds me of some of it.👍❤️
Not like grey of our moon.

[reACTIONary]

6. It's about the size of our moon, give or take...

... heard of Europa Clipper?

[Shanti Shanti Shanti]

7. Yes, a flyby orbiter in 2024 with maybe lander mission in 2027, Hurry up, I cant wait forever, more!

[reACTIONary]

8. +100 nt

[Layzeebeaver]

3. WOW

Today's low resolution is yesterday's SUPER HIGH resolution.

I like the inclusion of the probes bits in the photo. so cool!

[thucythucy]

9. What an incredibly hostile environment.

And what an amazing technological achievement, for an instrument package to travel this far, take such accurate aim, and be durable enough to survive the gales of radiation amid the vacuum of unforgiving space.

Congratulations to all involved!