BepiColombo mission is about to arrive at Mercury!

It's a pretty nifty design: ESA's Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and JAXA's Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (Mio) are travelling to #Mercury as a compostive spacecraft, stacked on top of a transfer module. So separation & arrival will happen in stages.

▶️ esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/…

Planetary science is a good reminder that science needs long-term planning and foresight. #BepiColombo was launched in 2018!

#astrodon #space #ESA #JAXA #VicisAstro