After an eight-year journey through space, the joint European and Japanese space mission BepiColombo has begun its high-risk approach to Mercury, the smallest and closest planet to the Sun. Launched in October 2018, the 4-ton spacecraft traveled over 10 billion kilometers and performed nine planetary flybys to adjust its speed and trajectory for the mission. Now, the European Space Agency's Mercury Planet Orbiter (MPO) is set to study the planet with unprecedented precision, coming as close as 480 kilometers to its surface. Meanwhile, Japan's JAXA will use its Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (Mio) to examine Mercury’s magnetic field and space environment, following an elliptical orbit that reaches up to 11,000 kilometers. On Thursday, a critical milestone was achieved when the two orbiters separated from the transfer module that had carried them across the solar system. The separation happened at 12:00 GMT, as the transfer module autonomously released the mechanical legs connecting the orbiters. A spring mechanism gently pushed the two spacecraft apart at a rate of 40 centimeters per second, keeping them relatively close in the vast emptiness of space. The confirmation of this successful maneuver reached the mission control center in Darmstadt, Germany, nearly two hours later at 13:53 GMT. Mercury's extreme conditions make the mission particularly challenging. Surface temperatures can swing from -180 to 450 degrees Celsius, and the planet is bombarded by intense solar radiation. The spacecraft's distance—200 million kilometers from Earth—and its proximity to the Sun—63 million kilometers away—make real-time control impossible, increasing the complexity of the mission. The spacecraft will now need to enter Mercury’s orbit on November 21, followed by a delicate separation on December 9 and 10 to reach their individual orbits. With sixteen scientific instruments and a budget of 1.7 billion euros, BepiColombo aims to provide humanity with new insights into Mercury and deepen our understanding of the solar system. The mission will study Mercury’s thin exosphere, its magnetic field, and its surface in high resolution. Scientists hope to uncover details about past volcanic activity, the planet’s high density, and whether water ice exists in its shadowed polar regions. They also aim to investigate mysterious features called "hollows," which appear to be related to volatile substances that evaporate easily. "We want to understand how Mercury formed and evolved, which can also help us understand how Earth formed and became what it is today," said Geraint Jones, a mission scientist.