Heading for Mercury

BepiColombo, a European mission, approaches Mercury in this artist's concept. The craft is scheduled for launch as early as October 18. It will consist of two separate spacecraft that will ride to Mercury together. They will separate when they arrive at the planet in December 2025. BepiColombo will be only the second mission to orbit Mercury, after Messenger, a NASA mission that concluded its work in 2015. [ESA/ATG Medialab; NASA/JPL]