By GB News (World News) | Created at 2026-09-04 22:00:49 | Updated at 2026-09-04 22:46:57
46 minutes ago
A spacecraft on a mission to Mercury successfully detached from its British-manufactured propulsion system yesterday, initiating the final phase of arrival following an eight-year voyage through the solar system.
The BepiColombo probe, operated jointly by the European Space Agency and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, jettisoned its Mercury Transfer Module on Thursday as it approached the innermost planet.
The propulsion unit featured electric ion engines manufactured by QinetiQ in the United Kingdom, which had guided the craft across more than five billion miles of space.
The spacecraft's two scientific orbiters, one European and one Japanese, remain attached to each other as they continue their approach towards Mercury, the smallest planet circling the sun. The pair are scheduled to enter orbit around Mercury on November 21, with full scientific observations due to commence in April 2027.
The mission departed from French Guiana aboard an Ariane 5 rocket in October 2018, embarking on what would become a lengthy odyssey through the inner solar system.
Reaching Mercury presents extraordinary technical challenges due to the sun's immense gravitational influence, which accelerates any approaching spacecraft to tremendous velocities. BepiColombo attained speeds approaching 120,000 miles per hour relative to the sun, far exceeding the modest gravitational grip of Mercury, which possesses merely 5.5 per cent of Earth's mass.
To achieve rendezvous with the planet, the spacecraft followed an elaborate trajectory involving nine planetary encounters: one at Earth, two at Venus and six at Mercury itself. These flybys, combined with repeated firings of the British-built ion propulsion system, were required to reduce velocity by approximately 17,000 miles per hour.
The European Space Agency noted whilst "getting to Mercury is hard", arriving there proves "even harder".
The Mercury mission is preparing for a critical moment
GB NEWS
The separation manoeuvre took place at 1pm BST, although confirmation of the event's success required more than an hour to reach mission controllers on Earth.
Engineers at the European Space Agency's mission control received the spacecraft's signal at 2.53pm, accompanied by telemetry data confirming the probe had reached its intended configuration.
Elsa Montagnon, the mission's operations manager, expressed considerable relief at the successful execution. "That the telemetry comes exactly at the moment we expect it, and that we see in the telemetry that the configuration of the spacecraft is the correct one," she said. "This is the best case scenario."
Mission team members confirmed "the spacecraft is healthy and operating as expected" following the critical manoeuvre.
Bruno Sousa, ESA's head of operations definition and engineering, characterised the moment as pivotal. "It will basically be a new mission starting today," he said.
The arrival sequence extends across six months of continuous operations rather than a single orbital insertion event, according to mission managers.
Following the November 21 orbital capture, the spacecraft will execute 16 sequential manoeuvres to progressively adjust and lower its trajectory around Mercury.
The two scientific probes will separate from one another around 9th December. The Japanese Mio orbiter is scheduled to settle into a highly elliptical polar orbit, whilst the European Mercury Planetary Orbiter will shed the remaining sunshield structure on December 16.
The European spacecraft will then continue adjusting its altitude before achieving its final polar orbit on March 10, 2027.
Operations manager Elsa Montagnon noted the complexity of the arrival. "Arriving to Mercury is not as simple as other missions that do a big manoeuvre and they are there," she said. "In our case, it's going to be six months of continuous activities."
Scientific observations will begin on April 6, 2027, with the dual orbiters conducting complementary investigations of the planet and its environment.
The Japanese Mio orbiter will examine Mercury's magnetic field, studying how the constant stream of charged particles emanating from the sun affects the planet's magnetosphere.
The European Mercury Planetary Orbiter will focus on the planet's surface and interior. A University of Leicester-led instrument aboard will employ X-ray technology to chart the chemical makeup of Mercury's surface with unprecedented precision.
Additional instruments will photograph the heavily cratered landscape, investigate the planet's massive iron-rich core and search permanently shadowed polar craters for ice deposits.
These regions harbour frozen water despite surface temperatures reaching approximately 430 degrees Celsius elsewhere on the planet.
Scientists hope to investigate unexplained surface features called hollows, which appear as though the terrain is being gradually eroded. These depressions have not been observed on any other body in the solar system.
