ESA / JAXA

BepiColombo

Europe and Japan's joint mission to conduct a comprehensive study of Mercury.

STATUS

ACTIVE

AGENCY

ESA / JAXA

MISSION TYPE

Mercury Orbiter

TARGET

Mercury

LAUNCH

20 October 2018

ARRIVAL / RETURN

November 2026

MISSION OVERVIEW

About the mission

BepiColombo is a joint ESA-JAXA mission consisting of two scientific orbiters designed to study Mercury's surface, interior, magnetic field and surrounding environment.

OBJECTIVES

What is it trying to achieve?

01Study Mercury's surface and composition.

02Investigate its internal structure.

03Study its magnetic field and magnetosphere.

04Understand Mercury's formation and evolution.