BepiColombo, the joint ESA/JAXA mission, was reported on 3 September 2026 to be beginning its arrival at Mercury. According to ESA, the Mercury Transfer Module (MTM) was scheduled to separate from the rest of the stacked spacecraft that day, after the two craft had travelled together through the inner Solar System for eight years.

The separation was described as the start of what ESA calls one of the most complex planetary arrival sequences it has ever attempted. The agency broadcast coverage from its European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, including views of the Main Control Room and the first signal from the spacecraft after separation. The schedule listed separation at 14:00 CEST and the earliest possible acquisition of signal at 15:53.

The mission was reported in the source as taking the first critical step toward arriving at Mercury, with the separation marking the beginning of that arrival phase.