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Se firma el contrato industrial para la construcción de BepiColombo
 
18 enero 2008

ESA and Astrium sign the BepiColombo contract
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On 18 January 2008 ESA and Astrium signed the industrial contract to start the development of ESA´s BepiColombo mission to Mercury. The ceremony took place in Friedrichshafen, Germany.

From the left: ESA´s Director of Science, Prof. David Southwood; the Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg, Guenther Oettinger; the CEO of Astrium Satellites, Evert Dudok.



Credits: Astrium
 
 
BebiColombo’s planetary orbiter
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This artist’s impression provides a view of the two BepiColombo spacecraft, the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO), in their elliptical polar orbits around Mercury.

The MPO will circle the planet along an orbit ranging between 400 and 1500 kilometres above the surface. The MMO orbit ranges between 400 and 12 000 kilometres above the surface. The inclination and the eccentricity of these orbits are optimised for the study of the planet and of its magnetosphere in the very high temperature environment around Mercury.

The MPO will circle the planet along an orbit ranging between 400 and 1500 kilometres distance from the surface. The MMO orbit ranges between 400 and 12000 kilometres from the surface. The inclination and the eccentricity of these orbits are optimised for the study of the planet and of its magnetosphere in the very-high-temperature environment around Mercury.

Credits: ESA - image by C.Carreau

 
 
BepiColombo’s propulsion
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This image provides a close-up on the jets of ionised gas ejected by BepiColombo’s solar-electric propulsion (SEP) system.

In its cruise configuration, BepiColombo consists of: a transfer module, the Mercury Planetary Orbit (MPO), the sun shield and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO).

The transfer module is provided with both solar-electric propulsion and chemical propulsion units. The former will be used during the cruise to destination; the latter will be used to boost the initial launch orbit out to the Moon for a gravity assist manoeuvre.

Credits: ESA - C. Carreau
 
 
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