BepiColombo is a joint ESA/JAXA mission destined to orbit Mercury. However, to get the orbital mechanics just right for that insertion, the spacecraft has to do a few flybys of Venus. Then there will be six flybys of Mercury, and finally, BepiColombo will settle into an orbit of Mercury in 2025.

This most recent flyby of Venus is a chance to run another test of the craft’s MErcury Radiometer and Thermal Infrared Spectrometer (MERTIS), which will eventually be used to examine the spectra of rocks on the surface of our innermost planet. But with all the news circulating about phosphine being found in the atmosphere of Venus, the team behind this spacecraft will use the infrared sensor to take data from the dense cloud layer around Venus.

Before anyone gets too excited, the press release explains: MERTIS and the other five activated instruments onboard the Mercury Planetary Orbiter will not be able to detect any phosphine molecules from the distance of the flyby. Nevertheless, the flyby is scientifically interesting, as the spacecraft can be used to study Venus as if it were a distant, Earth-like extrasolar planet with a solid surface and dense atmosphere.

You see in the image here that little white spot is Venus, and this is BepiColombo’s first glimpse of our so-called twin planet. We fully expect more news in the years to come and will, of course, bring all the stories to you here on the Daily Space.

More Information

DLR press release 

University of Bern press release