ESA/JAXA spacecraft
BepiColombo
Arriving at Mercury: orbit insertion planned for 2026-11-21, science from April 2027 (ESA, 2026).
At Mercury.
Measured
- Agency
- ESA/JAXA
- Launched
- 2018-10-20
- From the Earth today
- 0.87 AU (130 million km)
How far, from the Earth
0.87 AU. To cross it:
- Light7 minutes 14 seconds
- Voyager 1's speed2.93 months
- Driving at 100 km/h148 years
Voyager 1 at the speed it moved outward over the year to 2026-10-25 (JPL Horizons). Driving: nonstop, never refuelling.
Facts
- JPL Horizons trajectory round the Sun, then Mercury: worst miss 323 km on the dates it was checked against (median 72 km); between those dates as much as about 969 km. Dates after the data was fetched are Horizons' predictions, which it revises as a mission flies. Its dot steps by about 1,800 km on 2026-11-21, where its path changes from round the Sun to round Mercury: Horizons has the planet in a slightly different place from astronomy-engine, whose position is added here.
Where this comes from
- ESA/JAXA
- Spacecraft trajectories: JPL Horizons, NASA/JPL-Caltech; each mission's agency credited on its card.
Every catalogue Ouranos draws is credited on the credits page.