The solar system’s smallest planet may have vast riches beneath its surface, according to a stunning discovery by a NASA spacecraft. Scientists have determined that Mercury, the closest planet to the ...

On Aug. 3, 2004, NASA launched the MESSENGER spacecraft on a historic first mission to orbit the planet Mercury. The spacecraft's name stands for the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry ...

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BepiColombo, a joint European-Japanese mission, completed its latest flyby of Mercury, sending back a sneak peek of the cratered planet it will begin to orbit in 2026. By Katrina Miller On Thursday, a ...

The MESSENGER spacecraft successfully completed its first orbit-correction maneuver today to reset its periapsis altitude – the lowest point of MESSENGER’s orbit about Mercury relative to the planet’s ...

'It really shows just how dynamic Mercury's space environment is.' When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. When the BepiColombo Mercury ...

The BepiColombo mission, a joint endeavor by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), has once again provided groundbreaking insights into Mercury, the ...

The spacecraft is set to make a flyby of Mercury in September, and operators are still unsure of the full impact of this glitch. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate ...

Mercury is a mysterious world. As the closest planet to the sun, it’s a hard-to-reach destination for space missions. So far, only two have made it to Mercury—NASA’s Mariner 10 and MESSENGER ...

A spacecraft skimmed past Mercury this week, beaming back stunning new images of the surface and showing once again that humankind has a seemingly insatiable longing to understand the universe. The ...

New simulations suggest that a 9-mile-thick layer of solid diamonds may lurk deep below the surface of Mercury. The gems almost certainly can't be mined for bling — but they may help solve some of the ...

A gigantic plasma eruption from the sun's hidden far side recently launched a sizable coronal mass ejection that slammed into Mercury, potentially triggering invisible X-ray auroras around the ...