| | BepiColombo in a nutshell
A mission to Mercury
Name BepiColombo is named after Giuseppe (Bepi) Colombo (1920-1984), a scientist who studied Mercury's orbital motion in detail as well as orbits and interplanetary travel in general.
Description Consisting of two orbiting spacecraft, BepiColombo will provide the most complete exploration yet of Mercury, the innermost planet of our Solar System. The Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) will map the planet, while the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) will investigate its magnetosphere.
Launch Launch is scheduled for August 2013 (when the launch window will open).
Status Under development.
Journey Both orbiters will be launched together on a single Soyuz-Fregat rocket from ESA's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. For its journey, BepiColombo will exploit the gravity of the Moon, Earth, Venus and Mercury itself in combination with solar-electric propulsion (SEP).
During the voyage to Mercury the two orbiters and the transfer module, consisting of electric propulsion and chemical propulsion units, form one single composite spacecraft. Arrival at Mercury will be in late summer 2019, six years after launch.
Notes Most of ESA's previous interplanetary missions have been to relatively cold parts of the Solar System. BepiColombo will be the Agency's first experience of sending a planetary probe to very 'hot' regions.
The journey from Earth to Mercury is also special - the spacecraft must brake against the Sun's gravity, which increases with proximity to the Sun, rather than accelerate away from it, as it is the case with journeys to the outer Solar System.
When approaching Mercury, the side of BepiColombo facing the Sun will have to withstand incredibly high temperatures, while that facing away from the Sun incredibly cold temperatures, all at the same time.
The day side of Mercury is very hot while the night side is very cold. BepiColombo will attempt to find out if there is water ice in permanently shadowed areas (craters in polar regions).
BepiColombo is ESA's first mission in co-operation with Japan.
Last update: 19 August 2009 | |
