BepiColombo

BepiColombo launched on an Arianespace Ariane 5 ECA from Ariane Launch Area 3, Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana on October 20, 2018. It was Arianespace's 269th launch, 7th this year and humanity's 5,787th orbital launch attempt. It was the 68th Ariane 5 ECA flight and the 4th this year. The payload was bound for Heliocentric N/A (Helio-N/A). 2 objects from this launch are catalogued, one of them a payload.

2 catalogued: 1 payload, 1 rocket stage

• BepiColombo MPO · NORAD 43653 · left Earth orbit October 20, 2018

Ariane 5 L5105 ESC-A · left Earth orbit October 20, 2018

Data from J. McDowell, planet4589.org

• ESA · Sep 24Win a trip to ESA to witness BepiColombo arrive at MercuryGet ready to celebrate BepiColombo’s arrival at Mercury. Craft a welcoming message that could be a drawing, song, poem or any other art form and stand a chance to win a trip to mission control!
• ESA · Sep 9MTM's selfie footage of BepiColombo's eight-year journeyWitness how over the last eight years, the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission has been travelling through the inner Solar System and aligning itself with Mercury's orbit. So far, it has travelled 9.9 billion km and completed nine 'planetary flybys' to help steer its way. In the video, you can see the spacecraft fly past Earth once, Venus twice, and Mercury six times.
• ESA · Sep 7BepiColombo begins Mercury arrival with MTM separation successOn 3 September 2026 at 15:49 CEST, the European Space Agency's BepiColombo Mission Control Team at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) received the signal they had been waiting for – BepiColombo’s Mercury Transfer Module (MTM) successfully separated from the spacecraft stack. This landmark achievement for the ESA and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) mission marks the first step of BepiColombo's long-awaited arrival at Mercury.
• ESA · Sep 3BepiColombo’s Mercury arrival begins - full replayWatch the replay of the livestream originally broadcast on 3 September as ESA/JAXA's BepiColombo mission took the first critical step towards arriving at Mercury.
• ESA · Sep 3Latest updates: BepiColombo's arrival at MercuryAfter eight years of travelling through the inner Solar System, BepiColombo is arriving at Mercury. This page will show the latest updates throughout the mission's arrival.
• ESA · Aug 31Media briefing: BepiColombo's next milestone towards MercuryRewatch the European Space Agency's 31 August 2026 online press briefing on the latest developments of the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission, Europe's and Japan's first mission to Mercury.
• ESA · Aug 27Watch live: BepiColombo begins its arrival at MercuryAfter eight years, the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission is about to enter its Mercury Arrival Phase. On 3 September 2026, ESA’s Mercury Transfer Module (MTM) will separate from BepiColombo’s two science orbiters – the first major step in one of the most operationally challenging planetary arrival sequences ever attempted by ESA.
• ESA · Jul 10Training while flying: Inside BepiColombo's arrival simulationsFrom the ESA Blogs.

• Previous Ariane 5 ECA flightAzerspace-2/Intelsat-38 & Horizons 3eSep 25, 2018
• Next Ariane 5 ECA flightGSAT-11 & GEO-KOMPSAT-2ADec 4, 2018
• All 2018 launches2018
• ProviderAll Arianespace launches
• RocketAll Ariane 5 launches
• Launch siteAll launches from Kourou