ESA's BepiColombo Mission Begins Critical Mercury Arrival Phase

The European Space Agency (ESA) and JAXA's BepiColombo mission is entering its Mercury Arrival Phase today, September 3, 2026. The first major step involves the separation of ESA's Mercury Transfer Module (MTM) from the mission's two science orbiters. This is a crucial milestone in one of the most challenging planetary arrival sequences ever attempted by ESA, with a livestream of the event scheduled for 13:45 CEST (11:45 UTC).