BepiColombo

The European-Japanese BepiColombo spacecraft reached a defining milestone on Thursday, successfully separating its propulsion module and beginning its arrival phase at Mercury after nearly eight years of travel through the inner solar system.

After an eight-year journey through the inner solar system, the joint ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission is set to reach a critical milestone on Thursday, September 3, when the spacecraft's Mercury Transfer Module will separate from its two science orbiters — the…