A European-Japanese spacecraft has beamed back some of the best close-up photos yet of Mercury's north pole as part of only the second human survey of our solar system's innermost planet.

The BepiColombo spacecraft will start orbiting Mercury in 2026. Right now, it's conducting a series of flybys of the planet to get into position for that orbit. On Jan. 8, one of those flybys ...

To get somewhere in outer space, you can’t exactly drive in a straight line. Orbits are tricky things, and sending a probe to ...

This image of Mercury's surface was taken by M-CAM 1 on board the Mercury Transfer Module (part of ... [+] the BepiColombo spacecraft), using an integration time of 40 milliseconds. Taken from ...

The BepiColombo spacecraft flew less than 200 miles from Mercury's surface and photographed volcanic plains and icy craters. A spacecraft skimmed past Mercury this week, beaming back stunning new ...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A spacecraft has beamed back some of the best close-up photos yet of Mercury’s north pole. The European and Japanese robotic explorer swooped as close as 183 miles ...

A European and Japanese spacecraft has captured some of the clearest images yet of Mercury’s north pole, including its permanently shadowed craters and vast volcanic plains. The BepiColombo ...

Though 2025 won't mark the return of astronauts into deep space as NASA had hoped, launchpads still will be scorching-hot ...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A spacecraft has beamed back some of the best close-up photos yet of Mercury’s north pole. The European and Japanese robotic explorer swooped as close as 183 miles above ...

This image provided by European Space Agency shows close-up photos of Mercury's north pole taken by the European-Japanese spacecraft BepiColombo. (European Space Agency via AP) This image provided ...