ESA BepiColombo mission to Mercury

[Rick]

ESA Mercury mission clears key hurdle

Science delegations to the European Space Agency (Esa) have approved a much more expensive mission to Mercury.

BepiColombo, due for launch in 2014, was supposed to have cost Esa about 665m euros (£595m; $995m).

The challenge, though, of building a probe able to survive the torrid heat and radiation at the innermost world has pushed this price up to 970m euros.

Many researchers feared Bepi might be cancelled, but Esa's Science Programme Committee has passed the bigger budget.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8364704.stm

[Rick]

BepiColombo's Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter has arrived at ESTEC

The flight model of the BepiColombo Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter has arrived at ESA's European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in The Netherlands. Later this year, it will join the Mercury Planetary Orbiter, the Mercury Transfer Module, and the Magnetospheric Orbiter Sunshield and Interface Structure in the spacecraft stack.

The Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) flight model, which forms Japan's contribution to the mission, arrived at ESTEC on 14 April, having flown from Japan to Amsterdam (Schiphol) Airport and then been transported by road. The flight model was accompanied by its Electrical Ground Support Equipment (EGSE), which will be used to test it, and its Mechanical Ground Support Equipment (MGSE), which will be needed for handling the spacecraft during integration.

More from ESA

[Rick]

Europe's mission to Mercury returns first pictures

Europe's BepiColombo mission has returned its first pictures of Mercury, the Solar System's innermost planet.

The probe took the images shortly after it zipped over the little world at an altitude of just 200km (125 miles).

Controllers have planned a further five such flybys, each time using the gravitational tug of Mercury to help control the speed of the spacecraft.

More: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-58754882

[Rick]

BepiColombo spacecraft sends its first images of Mercury during flyby

The European-Japanese BepiColombo spacecraft has sent back its first images of Mercury, as it swung by the solar system's innermost planet while on a mission to deliver two probes into orbit in 2025.

The mission made the first of six flybys of Mercury at 11.34pm GMT on Friday, using the planet's gravity to slow the spacecraft down.

After swooping past Mercury at altitudes of under 200km (125 miles), the spacecraft took a low-resolution black-and-white photo with one of its monitoring cameras before zipping off again.

More: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/oct/03/bepicolombo-spacecraft-sends-its-first-images-of-mercury-during-flyby

[Rick]

BepiColombo probe turns to the dark side ... of Mercury

The BepiColombo probe has completed its third fly-by of the planet Mercury and sent home some striking snaps of the tiny world's dark side.

The probe was launched in 2018 on a complex path that saw it fly by Earth (twice) and Venus (once) and calls for six encounters with Mercury before settling into orbit. All the maneuvering takes time because, as the European Space Agency explains here, entering orbit around the closest planet to the Sun is difficult thanks to massive gravity accelerating any spacecraft's velocity.

BepiColombo had already made its passes past Earth and Venus, plus a pair of Mercury visits.

More: https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/21/bepicolombo_third_mercury_flyby/