A spacecraft built in the UK has captured new images of Mercury as it made its sixth and final flyby ahead of entering the planet’s orbit in 2026. BepiColombo was built by the Stevenage-based company Astrium, now Airbus, and launched in 2018. The spacecraft comprises two satellites that will gather data for at least a year, and needs special shielding to withstand the heat from the sun. Monitoring cameras on the spacecraft captured images of the planet as it flew 295km above Mercury’s surface, including views of the planet’s north poles, as it was lit by sunlight.
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