ESA's BepiColombo Captures Stunning Images of Mercury's Surface Ahead of 2026 Orbital Insertion

ESA's BepiColombo spacecraft has captured stunning images of Mercury’s surface during its sixth and final flyby ahead of its 2026 orbit insertion. The spacecraft flew just hundreds of kilometers above the planet's north pole, revealing icy craters in permanent shadow and sunlit northern plains. The images taken by BepiColombo’s M-CAM 1 camera show dark craters, including Prokofiev, Kandinsky, Tolkien, and Gordimer, which are believed to potentially contain frozen water.

ESA's Josef Aschbacher noted that these cold craters are some of the coldest places in the Solar System, despite Mercury’s proximity to the Sun. The spacecraft's data will be analyzed to confirm the existence of frozen water, with further investigation planned once BepiColombo enters Mercury’s orbit.

The mission, which began in 2018, has provided crucial data, and the full scientific phase will begin in two years. The project aims to study Mercury’s mysterious surface and its unusually large iron core, which makes up 60% of its mass. In 2027, BepiColombo's Mercury Planetary Orbiter, along with Japan's Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, will collect more detailed information about the planet from various altitudes.