On January 14, 2025, the BepiColombo spacecraft flew just 295 kilometers above the surface of Mercury, marking its sixth and final gravitational assist before entering orbit around the planet next year. During the flyby, the spacecraft's M-CAM 1 camera captured remarkable images, including the northern pole of Mercury illuminated by the Sun.
The Mercury Transfer Module, equipped with three 1-megapixel cameras, will detach from the two orbiters—the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (Mio)—before they enter Mercury's orbit. The recent flyby provided a unique opportunity to observe permanently shadowed craters, where scientists suspect water may exist.
Images revealed the Prokofjew, Kandinski, Tolkien, and Gordimer craters, which are among the coldest locations in the Solar System despite Mercury's proximity to the Sun. Additionally, the M-CAM 1 captured expansive volcanic plains known as Borealis Planitia, formed 3.7 billion years ago during a massive lava outpouring.
Further images included the Mendelssohn crater, barely visible above the lava-flooded interior, and the Caloris basin, the largest impact crater on Mercury, measuring over 1500 kilometers in diameter. The impact that created Caloris left visible lines stretching thousands of kilometers across the planet's surface.
The BepiColombo mission, launched on October 20, 2018, consists of two orbiters and aims to investigate Mercury's surface composition and geological history. The main research phase will commence in early 2027, following the separation of the Mercury Transfer Module from the orbiters in late 2026. The scientific mission is planned for 12 months, with a potential extension of one additional year.