Enigmatic planet Mercury posed for some closeups when the BepiColombo mission flew by. Craters, bright regions and volcanic plains star in the best views from the flyby.

The BepiColombo mission successfully completed its sixth flyby of the innermost planet, moving closer to its final goal of entering its orbit.

BepiColombo made its sixth and final flyby of Mercury on Wed (Jan. 8) capturing images of the tiny planet hinting at the mysteries it will soon investigate.

In 2026, the Bepicolombo Mercury Transfer Module will return to Mercury once again to release the ESA's Mercury Planetary Orbiter and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, aiming to spend 2027 collecting data from their individual altitudes and orientations above the planet.

New images of the planet Mercury taken by a robotic spacecraft have just been released — and they show the scorched world in fascinating up-close detail.

The European Space Agency (ESA) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the joint Mercury mission in 2018. The BepiColombo spacecraft was expected to fly less than 200 miles above the surface of the Swift Planet.

A spacecraft has beamed back some of the best close-up photos yet of Mercury's north pole. The European and Japanese robotic explorer buzzed the planet's polar region Wednesday. The European

The BepiColombo spacecraft flew less than 200 miles from Mercury's surface and photographed volcanic plains and icy craters.

A spacecraft making its final flyby of Mercury has captured incredible images. BepiColombo spacecraft made its sixth pass of the closest planet to the sun on Jan. 8. It flew just a few hundred kilometers above the planet's surface,