The European Space Agency is sending a mission to explore the mysteries of Mercury.
BepiColombo, named after the Italian mathematician and engineer Giuseppe “Bepi” Colombo, launched at 9:45 p.m. ET Friday aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from a spaceport in French Guiana.
The spacecraft is actually made up of two probes: One will go into orbit close to the planet, while the other, supplied by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, will orbit farther away, measuring Mercury’s magnetic field.
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