The BepiColombo space mission returns its first magnificent image of Mercury

If Mars has become too crowded for you, with what all the the vagabonds (and helicopters) buzzing (or collection dust), why not take your vacation on Mercure? Or at least dream of doing it.

A new image of the planet, returned by the Japanese common European BepiColombo Mission, allows you to fantasize about listening to sweet melodies while strolling the Rudaki plains of Mercury or unwinding with a good book while relaxing by the edge of Lermontov Crater.

“The region represented is part of the northern hemisphere of Mercury, including Sihtu Planitia which was inundated with lava,” the European Space Agency said on its website on Saturday. “A round area smoother and brighter than its surroundings characterizes the plains around the Calvino crater, called the Rudaki plains. The 166 km wide Lermontov crater is also visible, which looks bright because it contains features unique to Mercury called” hollow “where volatile elements escape into space. It also contains a vent where volcanic explosions have occurred.

A joint project of ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, the BepiColombo mission seeks to learn more about the formation of the planet closest to the sun, what it is made of and what it is made of. tells us about the birth of our solar system. .

Read more: Why BepiColombo will explore our smallest, most wrinkled planet

This is only the third mission to set its sights on Mercury. NASA’s Mariner 10 mission launched in 1973, and its Messenger mission took off in 2004.

The new photo of Mercury was taken by ESA’s Mercury Transfer Module on Friday about 1,500 miles from the planet, during the first of six scheduled overflights of Mercury. Previously, the spacecraft had approached about 125 miles from the planet, according to ESA.

The mission consists of two orbiters, ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, which travel together via the Mercury Transfer Module. The pair of orbiters are expected to orbit Mercury in December 2025, when they will split up to study and map the planet in more detail than ever.

Previously on its long journey, the mission returned blows of Venus and Earth. Oh, and of course some selfies.

You can read more about the BepiColombo mission in this recap from CNET’s Claire Reilly.