New pictures of Mercury were taken by a UK-built spacecraft during its sixth and last flyby before it enters the planet’s orbit in 2026.
The Stevenage-based company Astrium, which is now Airbus, constructed BepiColombo, which was introduced in 2018.
The spacecraft, which consists of two satellites, requires specialized shielding to withstand the heat from the sun and will collect data for at least a year.
As it passed 295 kilometers (183 miles) above the surface of Mercury, the spacecraft’s monitoring cameras took pictures of the planet under the light of the sun, including views of the planet’s north poles.
