BepiColombo, the joint mission of the European Space Agency and Japan's JAXA, is arriving at Mercury after eight years of travel through the inner Solar System. The Mercury Transfer Module separated from the spacecraft stack on 3 September 2026, more than 200 million kilometres from Earth. Its two science orbiters, ESA's Mercury Planetary Orbiter and JAXA's Mio, are to enter orbit around Mercury on 21 November 2026, separate on 9–10 December 2026, and begin their science phase in April 2027, ESA reported on 6 October 2026.

After that separation, all instruments on the Mercury Planetary Orbiter were switched on together for the first time on 15 September. ESA said initial checks showed them in good health. The laser altimeter BELA fired for the first time, emitting over 700 thousand pulses during 21.5 hours of testing, and the MERTIS spectrometer observed deep space through both its planet and calibration ports, returning around 1 gigabit of data from a 22-hour test. The SIMBIO-SYS camera activated its three optical channels and took its first image in space; the team plans further fine-tuning over the coming weeks.

The mission team also held a press briefing on 9 September 2026 at the Europlanet Science Congress in The Hague, updating attendees on the spacecraft's status after separation and on the next steps toward Mercury orbit. The arrival phase continues ahead of orbit insertion later in 2026.