To Mercury, via Europe's Spaceport!

Activities surrounding the departure of ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) of the joint ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission to Mercury, from ESA’s technical heart in the Netherlands to Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

The video features the final preparations of the MPO in the ESA cleanroom, including removal of ground support equipment from a science instrument, and sealing the module inside its shipping container. The containers travelled by road to Amsterdam Schiphol airport, where they boarded an Antonov cargo plane for transport to French Guiana.

Three additional cargo planes carried JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter and ESA’s Mercury Transfer Module, along with the spacecraft solar arrays, sunshield, and essential ground support equipment to the Spaceport.

The upcoming launch window is open 5 October – 29 November 2018.