Close-up pictures reveal dark craters that may hold a clue to Mercury’s greatest mystery – the existence of water on the planet closest to the Sun.
The images were captured by the BepiColombo spacecraft’s monitoring cameras as it flew just 295 km (183 miles) above the planet’s surface on January 8th.
BepiColombo is a joint project between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to study one of the least-explored planets in the solar system.
The images were first shared by ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher during a press conference on January 9th.
They reveal the planet’s vast sunlit northern plains called Borealis Palnitia, dotted with craters named after famous earthlings, including Russian composer Sergey Prokofiev and English writer J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of The Lord of the Rings.
Our top three images from the sixth Mercury flyby are here! 🌗
undefined BepiColombo (@BepiColombo) January 9, 2025
See what they reveal about the mysterious planet here 👉 https://t.co/osfrjGs2t5 and in 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/b8uU2h4RL0
These craters are some of the coldest places in the solar system, despite Mercury being the closest planet to the Sun. There is evidence they may contain frozen water, and confirming that is one of the key goals of the ESA-led mission to Mercury – Europe’s first.
In addition to Mercury's volcanic plains, the pictures also capture parts of the BepiColombo spacecraft in the foreground, including its solar array and a segment of its Mercury Transfer Module.
This is BepiColombo’s sixth flyby of Mercury and the final one needed for the spacecraft to steer itself into orbit around the planet in 2026 before starting science operations in early 2027.
Aside from the existence of water, the mission will study Mercury’s geological history, which was shaped by volcanic activity and large impacts, and its material composition that makes the planet “remarkably dark,” according to ESA.
“Scientists don't yet know what exactly Mercury is made of, but it is clear that material brought up from beneath the outer surface gradually becomes darker with age,” the agency said.
BepiColombo launched on October 20th in 2018 from ESA’s space center at French Guiana. The mission is named after Giuseppe "Bepi" Colombo, an Italian mathematician and engineer who studied Mercury.
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