Ariane 5 launches BepiColombo mission to Mercury

Published on Oct 19, 2018

An Ariane 5 ECA launch vehicle (Ariane Flight VA245) launched the ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission to Mercury from Ariane Launch Complex No. 3 (ELA 3) at Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, on 20 October 2018, at 01:45 UTC (19 October, at 22:45 local time). The mission is a collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). BepiColombo consists of two scientific orbiters: ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO). The mission was named in honor of Giuseppe “Bepi” Colombo, an Italian scientist who studied the planet Mercury and first implemented the interplanetary gravity-assist manoeuvre.