Eight years on the road – and this is just the beginning: BepiColombo finally reaches Mercury

Launched nearly eight years ago, the BepiColombo mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to study Mercury has reached an important milestone. On September 3, the Mercury Transfer Module (MTM), which provides propulsion for their multi-year journey, separated from the two science probes. Now, experts must launch both devices into working orbit around Mercury. Image source: ESA/ATG medialab