BepiColombo Ends Final Thrust Arc, Targets Mercury Orbit on Nov. 21, 2026

1 articles · Updated · spacedaily.com · Aug 7

ESA said BepiColombo finished its last solar-electric thrust arc on June 15 and has entered the final approach phase before Mercury orbit insertion on Nov. 21, 2026.
Four QinetiQ T6 ion thrusters provided months of low but continuous xenon-powered braking, trimming the spacecraft's solar orbit after gravity assists did much of the energy reduction.
Nine flybys over eight years—1 of Earth, 2 of Venus and 6 of Mercury—were needed because a probe heading inward must shed Earth's roughly 30 km/s sideways motion while the Sun accelerates it.
Chemical propulsion will handle the critical capture burn and later release ESA's Mercury Planetary Orbiter and JAXA's Mio into separate science orbits around Mercury and its magnetic environment.