BepiColombo

[Airicist]

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.

[Airicist]

BepiColombo on the way to Mercury

Published on Oct 19, 2018

The BepiColombo satellite separated from the upper stage of the Ariane 5 ECA launch vehicle (Ariane Flight VA245) 27 minutes after being launched 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.
Credit:
Arianespace

[Airicist]

BepiColombo is set to solve Mercury's mysteries | Watch This Space

Published on Nov 2, 2018

There's a lot we don't know about the first rock from the Sun. How was Mercury formed? What's it made of? Claire Reilly takes a look at the Solar System's first and favorite child, and the European and Japanese joint-mission to learn more about this strangely wrinkled planet.

[Airicist]

BepiColombo’s Earth flyby

Apr 11, 2020

The ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission completed its Earth flyby on 10 April 2020. The spacecraft came less than 12700 km from Earth’s surface at 04:25 UTC, steering its trajectory towards the final destination, Mercury. The spacecraft will perform two flybys at Venus (in October 2020 and August 2021) and six at Mercury, starting from October 2021, before orbit insertion in December 2025.
Credits:
European Space Agency (ESA)/Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
ESA/BepiColombo/MTM, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

[Airicist]

BepiColombo’s first images of Mercury

Oct 2, 2021

On 1 October 2021, the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo spacecraft performed its first Mercury flyby.
These are some of the first images taken by the Monitoring Cameras, which provide black-and-white snapshots in 1024 x 1024 pixel resolution.

[Airicist2]

BepiColombo’s second flyby of Mercury

Jun 27, 2022

The ESA/JAXA BepiColombo spacecraft performed its second Mercury flyby. The closest approach took place on 23 June 2022, at 09:44 UTC, about 200 km above the planet’s surface.

Credit:
ESA/JAXA/BepiColombo/MTM

[Airicist2]

BepiColombo’s third flyby of Mercury

Jun 22, 2023

The ESA/JAXA BepiColombo spacecraft performed its third Mercury flyby. 217 images captured by BepiColombo’s monitoring camera M-CAM 3 starting from 19:46:25 UTC on 19 June 2023, at an altitude of 1 789 km above the planet’s surface, and ending at 20:34:25 UTC on 20 June 2023, when BepiColombo was 331 755 km away.