This animation visualizes BepiColombo’s launch and cruise to Mercury. Some aspects have been simplified for the purpose of the animation.
The BepiColombo space probe to the planet Mercury is scheduled to launch on September 19, 2018 at 9:45 PM EDT (September 20 at 1:45 UTC; translate UTC to your time) from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. BepiColombo will study the composition, geophysics, atmosphere, magnetosphere and history of Mercury, the least explored planet in the inner solar system. Watch the launch live here.
BepiColombo is a joint mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), executed under ESA leadership. The mission consists of two spacecraft: the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO), which was constructed by ESA, and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO), which was constructed by JAXA. Both spacecraft will fly to Mercury together as a coupled system, but will be put onto separate orbits upon arrival in 2025. The MMO will investigate the magnetospheric interaction between the planet and the solar wind, while the MPO will be put onto a lower orbit which is optimal for carrying out remote sensing of the planet’s surface.
Watch BepiColombo launch here.
BepiColombo is the first Mercury mission to send two science orbiters to make complementary measurements of the planet’s dynamic environment at the same time. Image via ESA.
The space probe’s journey to Mercury, the smallest and innermost planet in our solar system, will take seven years.
Nicolas Thomas and Peter Wurz are space researchers from the University of Bern were part of the ESA’s science advisory group which designed the BepiColombo mission. Thomas said in a statement:
Among other things, BepiColombo will fly past Venus twice and past Mercury six times in order to decelerate. Otherwise, the probe would plunge into the sun.
Peter Wurz added:
The maneuver to bring the probe into orbit around Mercury will take place last; this is carried out through chemical propulsion. Our nerves will probably be pretty taut.
Once BepiColombo has achieved its intended orbit, data transmission to Earth will take approximately 15 minutes. Ultimately, the scientific investigations and experiments on Mercury should take one to two years.
Bill Nye, CEO of The Planetary Society, said in a statement:
The BepiColombo mission to Mercury will take us to the planet closest to the sun — the planet that helped us prove that relativity is real, the planet that is astonishingly hot on its sun-side and yet carries ice in craters at its North Pole. This wonderful spacecraft will let us learn more about how the solar system began, where we all came from, and how, on our own planet, you and I came to be.
Image via ESA.
Bottom line: How to watch the October 2018 launch of the BepiColombo mission to Mercury.
from EarthSky https://ift.tt/2PFukOZ
This animation visualizes BepiColombo’s launch and cruise to Mercury. Some aspects have been simplified for the purpose of the animation.
The BepiColombo space probe to the planet Mercury is scheduled to launch on September 19, 2018 at 9:45 PM EDT (September 20 at 1:45 UTC; translate UTC to your time) from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. BepiColombo will study the composition, geophysics, atmosphere, magnetosphere and history of Mercury, the least explored planet in the inner solar system. Watch the launch live here.
BepiColombo is a joint mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), executed under ESA leadership. The mission consists of two spacecraft: the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO), which was constructed by ESA, and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO), which was constructed by JAXA. Both spacecraft will fly to Mercury together as a coupled system, but will be put onto separate orbits upon arrival in 2025. The MMO will investigate the magnetospheric interaction between the planet and the solar wind, while the MPO will be put onto a lower orbit which is optimal for carrying out remote sensing of the planet’s surface.
Watch BepiColombo launch here.
BepiColombo is the first Mercury mission to send two science orbiters to make complementary measurements of the planet’s dynamic environment at the same time. Image via ESA.
The space probe’s journey to Mercury, the smallest and innermost planet in our solar system, will take seven years.
Nicolas Thomas and Peter Wurz are space researchers from the University of Bern were part of the ESA’s science advisory group which designed the BepiColombo mission. Thomas said in a statement:
Among other things, BepiColombo will fly past Venus twice and past Mercury six times in order to decelerate. Otherwise, the probe would plunge into the sun.
Peter Wurz added:
The maneuver to bring the probe into orbit around Mercury will take place last; this is carried out through chemical propulsion. Our nerves will probably be pretty taut.
Once BepiColombo has achieved its intended orbit, data transmission to Earth will take approximately 15 minutes. Ultimately, the scientific investigations and experiments on Mercury should take one to two years.
Bill Nye, CEO of The Planetary Society, said in a statement:
The BepiColombo mission to Mercury will take us to the planet closest to the sun — the planet that helped us prove that relativity is real, the planet that is astonishingly hot on its sun-side and yet carries ice in craters at its North Pole. This wonderful spacecraft will let us learn more about how the solar system began, where we all came from, and how, on our own planet, you and I came to be.
Image via ESA.
Bottom line: How to watch the October 2018 launch of the BepiColombo mission to Mercury.
from EarthSky https://ift.tt/2PFukOZ
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