BepiColombo's ground control
The European Space Agency (ESA) is responsible for BepiColombo's operations throughout its journey to Mercury. Once the mission's two science spacecraft enter orbit around Mercury, operations will be divided between ESA and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
During the cruise, ESA's European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, will coordinate the operation of the composite spacecraft through communications links with ESA’s network of ground stations with 35 m-diameter antennas such as Cebreros in Spain – the primary ground station for BepiColombo – and Malargüe in Argentina. Malargüe will also be used to support radio science during the cruise. NASA’s Deep Space Network station in Goldstone, California, US, will be used for radio science during the main mission.
Once in orbit aronud Mercury, ESOC will continue to run the spacecraft operations of BepiColombo's Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO).
The ISAS/JAXA Sagamihara Space Operation Centre, using the Usuda 64 m antenna in Japan, will take over the operation of BepiColombo's Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO, or Mio).
The BepiColombo Science Operation Centre will be based at the ESA's European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) in Villafranca, near Madrid, Spain. The Science Operation Centre will define and coordinate the scientific observations and assist the teams in operating their instruments, as well as manage the data archives.
