BepiColombo flies over Mercury
"Today the BepiColombo mission to Mercury will make the first of six flybys of its destination planet. LIP is involved in the mission"
BepiColombo is an ESA/JAXA mission to Mercury. It left Earth on 20 October 2018 and is expected to enter Mercury's orbit in 2025. Today, shortly after its last Venus flyby in August, the spacecraft will make the first of six flybys of Mercury. The encounter will be at 23:34 UTC on 1 October (00:34 Greenwich time, 2 October). BepiColombo will be only 200 km away from Mercury, capturing images and science data — a first taste of what’s to come.
LIP's SpaceRad group is involved in the calibration and data analysis of the mission’s radiation monitor BERM, as well as in the mission's science team. The monitor was built by EFACEC. SA, Portugal.
The mission comprises two science orbiters which will be delivered into complementary orbits around the planet by the Mercury Transfer Module in 2025. BepiColombo will make use of nine planetary flybys (one at Earth, two at Venus, and six at Mercury) together with the spacecraft’s solar electric propulsion system, to help steer into Mercury orbit.
Further details on the event HERE.
More information on the mission HERE.