The ESA (European Space Agency) and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) have come together to launch BepiColombo mission which is set to explore the innermost planet of our solar system- Mercury.
The two agency jointly launched Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou on October 20, 2018, carrying two spacecraft.
It is the first European mission to Mercury and also the first to send two spacecraft to study its “dynamic environment and make complementary measurements of the planet at the same time.”
The mission BepiColombo, named after Italian scientist Giuseppe Colombo famed as Bepi Colombo, comprises of two satellites- the ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO, or ‘Bepi’) and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO, or ‘Mio’).
The Mercury Transfer Module (MTM) developed by ESA will carry the orbiters to the smallest and least explored planet in the inner Solar System, Mercury, using a combination of solar electric propulsion and gravity assist flybys, with one flyby of Earth, two of Venus, and six of Mercury, before entering Mercury’s orbit in late 2025.
During the cruise phase, the two orbiters will be able to operate their science instruments giving researchers an opportunity to collect valuable data at Venus. “BepiColombo is one of the most complex interplanetary missions we have ever flown,” says Andrea Accomazzo, ESA Flight Director for BepiColombo.
The Bepi spacecraft will operate in Mercury’s inner orbit while the Mio is designed to operate in outer orbit. The data the satellites will collect would reveal the structure and surface of the planet and also its geological evolution.
The orbiters have to deal with extreme temperature varying from -180ºC to over 450ºC. The challenge here is that many of spacecraft mechanisms and outer coatings have not been tested prior to the mission in such conditions. Another major challenge is the Sun’s enormous gravity which will make it difficult to place the probes into a stable orbit around the Mercury.
“Launching BepiColombo is a huge milestone for ESA and JAXA, and there will be many great successes to come,” said Jan Wörner, ESA Director General.
“Beyond completing the challenging journey, this mission will return a huge bounty of science. It is thanks to the international collaboration and the decades of efforts and expertise of everyone involved in the design and building of this incredible machine, that we are now on our way to investigating planet Mercury’s mysteries,” added Wörner.
Earlier missions to Mercury include NASA’s Messenger probe which after a four-year orbit of Mercury ended its mission in 2015 and the other spacecraft that flew past the Mercury was NASA’s Mariner 10 in the
