Mercury remains our solar system's least

Mercury remains our solar system's least

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studied inner planet, with only NASA's Mariner 10 and MESSENGER probes getting prior looks. They revealed that the closest planet to the sun actually has water vapor in its atmosphere and could possibly have frozen ice in its polar regions. Bepi will take 7.2 years to get to the planet at which point will begin several flybys, ending in 2025.

But perhaps as fascinating as anything it will find are the orbital mechanics it will use to get there. Its complicated gravity-assisted route takes it on the far side of Earth, performing one flyby of our blue marble and two flybys of Venus before it actually starts getting a look at Mercury: