End of the blue glow: BepiColombo turns off solar electric propulsion for Mercury arrival

...After a long, challenging cruise phase with nine planetary flybys (one by Earth, two by Venus and six by Mercury), BepiColombo finally closed this chapter last Monday by permanently switching off its SEP thrusters...

Without any other source of propulsion, BepiColombo will follow a “ballistic” or free-falling trajectory as it initiates its first key arrival manoeuvre – MTM separation – on 3 September 2026.

After the MTM is ejected, the remaining spacecraft composite (MPO-Mio-MOSIF) will continue its planetary approach using MPO’s chemical propulsion system. This system will adjust the spacecraft’s trajectory ahead of the critical Mercury orbit insertion manoeuvre on 21 November, then guide it into Mio’s deployment orbit in early December before finally lowering MPO into its science orbit by March 2027...