the european space agency and the japanese space agency made and launched a spacecraft called "bepicolombo." it will orbit mercury with two probes: one to map the planet and the other to study its magnetosphere. it was launched on october 20, 2018. "bepicolombo" is expected to reach mercury in 2025. it will release the probe that will study the magnetosphere into an elliptical orbit. it will then release the probe the will make a map of mercury into a circular orbit.