TOKYO, 4th November, 2026 (WAM) -- Japan's Mercury probe Mio, part of the Japan-Europe joint Mercury exploration mission BepiColombo, is expected to take its first images of Mercury next spring after arriving at the planet later this month, Kyodo News reported on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The spacecraft is expected to capture Mercury's tenuous sodium atmosphere and possibly its terrain, marking the start of preparations for full-scale scientific observations after a 10-billion-kilometre journey over roughly eight years.
Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun, is exposed to extreme temperatures and remains difficult to reach because of the Sun's strong gravitational pull, leaving it relatively unexplored.
BepiColombo is the world's first mission in which two spacecraft, separately developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the European Space Agency, will orbit Mercury simultaneously. Equipped with special heat-protection systems, the spacecraft will conduct observations from different orbits.
The sole imaging instrument aboard Mio is the Mercury Sodium Atmospheric Spectral Imager. After separating from Europe's Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) in early December this year, Mio will photograph Mercury and its surroundings and transmit the images using its own antenna.