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Credits: ESA - AOES Medialab

After launch in 2013, the BepiColombo composite spacecraft will start its six-year interplanetary journey to Mercury.

A mission to the inner Solar System is extremely challenging from the technical point of view: not only will the spacecraft have to survive and operate in the very hot environment around a planet so close to the Sun, but it will also require a large amount of energy to brake against the Sun’s gravity and enter into orbit around Mercury.

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Credits: Astrium

After launch in 2013, the BepiColombo cruise-composite spacecraft will start its six-year interplanetary journey to Mercury.

During the cruise, the spacecraft will be accelerated by solar-electric propulsion, and it will receive gravity assists from Earth, Venus (twice) and Mercury (twice). Once at Mercury in 2019, the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) will be injected into their respective orbits by means of conventional (chemical) propulsion.

The science operations will last at least one Earth-year, possibly extended by one additional Earth-year.

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Credits: ESA - AOES Medialab

Upon arrival at Mercury in 2019, the components of the BepiColombo cruise-configuration spacecraft will separate. The transfer module will be ejected into space and the composite spacecraft, consisting of the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO), will use conventional rocket engines and the so-called 'weak stability boundary capture technique' to enter into polar orbit around the planet. When the MMO orbit is reached, the MPO will separate and lower its altitude to its operational orbit by chemical propulsion. Scientific investigations will go on for at least one Earth year (that is four Mercury orbits around the Sun).

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Credits: Astrium

Upon arrival at Mercury in 2019, the components of the BepiColombo cruise-configuration spacecraft will separate. The transfer module will be ejected into space and the composite spacecraft, consisting of the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO), will use conventional rocket engines and the so-called 'weak stability boundary capture technique' to enter into polar orbit around the planet. When the MMO orbit is reached, the MPO will separate and lower its altitude to its operational orbit by chemical propulsion. Scientific investigations will go on for at least one Earth year (that is four Mercury orbits around the Sun).

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Credits: Astrium

BepiColombo consists of four modules: the Mercury Transfer Module, the Mercury Planetary Orbiter, a sun-shield, and the Mercury Planetary Orbiter.

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Credits: ESA - AOES Medialab

This artist’s impression shows BepiColombo’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) in orbit around Mercury.

The MPO, led by ESA, will study the planet itself and, among several investigations, make complete maps of Mercury in several wavelengths. It will also map the planet's mineralogy and elemental composition and determine whether the planet has a molten core.

The MPO will work in tandem with the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO), led by JAXA, which will study the magnetosphere (the region of space around a planet dominated by its magnetic field).

BepiColombo is the first ever dual-satellite mission to Mercury.

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Credits: Astrium

This artist’s impression shows ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) that, together with a second spacecraft, the Japanese Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO), makes the BepiColombo mission at Mercury.

The MPO will study the planet itself and, among several investigations, make complete maps of Mercury in several wavelengths. It will also map the planet's mineralogy and elemental composition and determine whether the planet has a molten core.

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Credits: Astrium

BepiColombo is the first dual mission to visit Mercury, with one European spacecraft and one provided from Japan. The programme is carried out as a joint mission under ESA leadership with the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

The two spacecraft will address scientific questions such as the origin and evolution of a planet close to its parent star, the status of the planet’s interior and of its magnetic field, as well as a test of Einstein’s theory of General Relativity, making the most comprehensive and detailed study of Mercury ever attempted.