A pair of spacecraft draw closer to Mercury after nearly decade-long voyage
The two orbiters will begin a six-month capture sequence and later split to study Mercury’s magnetic field, interior and surface, ESA said.
- The Mercury Transfer Module will separate from the BepiColombo spacecraft stack today, Thursday, at 8 a.m. ET, marking a critical milestone for the European Space Agency's mission to Mercury.
- Jointly operated by the ESA and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency , the mission deploys two independent spacecraft: the Mercury Planetary Orbiter to observe the planet's surface, and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter to study the space environment.
- The spacecraft faces extreme conditions, with surface temperatures reaching 800 degrees Fahrenheit. Ignacio Tanco, head of Inner Solar System Mission Operations at the ESA, said the environment is "essentially equivalent to operating with a very hot pizza oven running right on your back."
- Scientists hope to probe mysteries including surface depressions called hollows and investigate why Mercury is so dense for its size, according to Geraint Jones, lead project scientist for BepiColombo at the ESA.
- The orbiters will be captured by Mercury's gravity on November 21, then separate and enter their final orbital positions by March before science operations officially begin in April.
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Eight-year Mercury mission prepares for critical moment after five billion-mile journey
A spacecraft on a mission to Mercury successfully detached from its British-manufactured propulsion system yesterday, initiating the final phase of arrival following an eight-year voyage through the solar system.The BepiColombo probe, operated jointly by the European Space Agency and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, jettisoned its Mercury Transfer Module on Thursday as it approached the innermost planet.The propulsion unit featured electric i…
After an Eight-Year Journey, Two Spacecraft Have Begun Their Arrival to Mercury, the Inner Solar System's Most Mysterious Planet
The BepiColombo mission, by the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, is only the third to study our smallest planetary neighbor
After almost eight years of flight time, the European-Japanese probe "Bepicolombo" steers towards Mercury. This is one of the next planets on Earth. But why does the journey there take so long?
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