MESSENGER began its 2,000th orbit around Mercury earlier this week, on May 22. The spacecraft completed its primary mission on March 17, 2012, and its first extended mission on March 17, 2013. The ...

BepiColombo, a joint European-Japanese mission, completed its latest flyby of Mercury, sending back a sneak peek of the cratered planet it will begin to orbit in 2026. By Katrina Miller On Thursday, a ...

But, in fact, it’s actually really difficult to reach the innermost planet of our solar system—which makes it that much more impressive that the ESA and JAXA’s BepiColombo mission has almost reached ...

Mercury is receding into the distance in this image taken by the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission in the early hours of 5 September 2024 as the spacecraft sped by for its fourth of six gravity assist ...

On March 25, the MESSENGER spacecraft completed its 4,000th orbit of Mercury, and the lowest point in its orbit continues to move closer to the planet than ever before. The orbital phase of the ...

Turns out, it's as tough to drop inward into the inner solar system, as it is to head outward. The problem stems from losing momentum from a launch starting point on Earth. It can take missions ...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) – The only spacecraft ever to orbit Mercury ended its four-year tour with a crash landing Thursday. NASA’s Messenger plunged from orbit as planned and slammed into the sun’s ...

Despite being relatively nearby, very few space probes have visited the solar system's innermost planet. Any spacecraft aiming to study Mercury must accelerate to incredible speeds, and that can take ...

NASA has sent the very first spacecraft into an orbit around Mercury, the closest planet on our solar system to the Sun. Now that it is there, NASA’s satellite MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ...

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. It seems like it should be pretty easy to get to Mercury. The ...