08 JUN. 2017
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This ESA-built Mercury Transfer Module (MTM) is carrying BepiColombo's two orbiters – ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO, or Mio) – to Mercury using solar-electric propulsion.
MTM’s ion thrusters are used during the cruise phase for delivering the two spacecraft to Mercury.
The high performance of the propulsion system, in terms of the amount of fuel the thrusters require, is critical. Inert xenon gas is fed in to the thrusters, where electrons are first stripped off the xenon atoms. The resulting electrically charged atoms, referred to as ions, are then focused and ejected out of the thrusters using a high voltage grid system at a velocity of 50 000 meters per second.
This exhaust velocity is 15 times greater than conventional chemical rocket thrusters, allowing a dramatic reduction in the amount of propellant required to achieve the mission.
Read more about the journey to Mercury here.
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Monitoring cameras on MTM
Additionally, MTM carries three 'monitoring cameras' (M-CAMs). These provide black-and-white snapshots in 1024 x 1024 pixel resolution, allowing us to monitor the health of some spacecraft components. Throughout the mission's journey to Mercury, these M-CAMs have also captured images of Earth, Venus and Mercury.
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BepiColombo overview
BepiColombo factsheet
Name: BepiColomboSpacecraft: Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO), Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO or Mio), and the Mercury Transport Module (MTM)Mission: To investigate Mercury, the innermost and least explored planet in the inner Solar System.
Top five Mercury mysteries that BepiColombo will solve
Mercury is a desert world which scientists until recently considered quite uninteresting. NASA’s Mariner and Messenger missions, however, revealed that there is much more to the smallest and innermost planet of the Solar System than meets the eye. Despite temperatures on its surface rising up to 450°C, there seems to be water ice on Mercury. The planet also appears to have a way too large inner core for its size and a surprising chemical composition. Here are the top five Mercury mysteries that the European-Japanese BepiColombo mission might solve.
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