A joint first mission to Mercury by the European Space Agency and Japan. It will consist of two separate orbiters: the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO), supplied by ESA, and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) supplied by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA. MPO will study the surface and internal composition of the planet, while the MMO will study Mercury's magnetosphere, the region of space around the planet that is dominated by its magnetic field. Each spacecraft will observe the planet from polar orbit for one Earth year. On the way to Mercury, both craft will be powered by solar-electric propulsion, as demonstrated by ESA's SMART-1 mission to the Moon. BepiColombo is named after the Italian scientist, mathematician and engineer Giuseppe (‘Bepi’) Colombo (1920–84), who first explained Mercury's unique rotation. Originally planned for launch in January 2017, the craft launched from Europe’s spaceport at Kourou in October 2018.