visited

After Mariner 10, it took until 2004 for another spacecraft to orbit Mercury: the MESSENGER mission (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging). MESSENGER successfully completed an exhaustive map of Mercury’s surface as well as confirmed water ice in polar craters. Europe and Japan’s joint BepiColombo probe is gearing up for its seven-year journey to…

Up until recently, only two spacecraft had ever visited Mercury: NASA’s Mariner 10, which accomplished three flybys between 1974 and 1975. Mariner 10 was successful in using Venus’ gravity to speed towards Mercury and sent back fuzzy images of its heavily cratered surface. Meanwhile, MESSENGER proved more successful, mapping all of it and discovering water…