Newslink: BepiColombo's Path: Why Does It Take So Long to Get to Mercury?

The European and Japanese space agencies launched their first mission to Mercury yesterday, but now, the mission's engineers and admirers have to endure a seven-year wait before the project's science begins in earnest.

https://www.space.com/42205-why-its-hard-to-get-to-mercury-for-bepicolombo.html