Mercury- bound craft makes Venus fly- by

BERLIN: A spacecraft bound for Mercury swung by Venus yesterday, using Earth’s neighbour to adjust its course on the way to the solar system’s smallest, innermost planet.

Launched almost two years ago, the European- Japanese probe Bepicolombo took a black- and- white snapshot of Venus from a distance of 17 000km, with some of its own instruments in the frame.

The fly- by is the second of nine planetary “gravity assists” the spacecraft needs for its seven- year trip to Mercury. The first, around Earth, took place in April. Mercury’s extreme temperatures make for hellish conditions.

Bepicolombo will make one more fly- by of Venus and six of Mercury itself to slow down before its arrival in 2025.