BepiColombo approaches Mercury orbit after 8 years

The European probe BepiColombo, launched in 2018 as part of an ESA mission with Japan and US participation, has entered the final approach phase to Mercury. The mission is valued at nearly $2 billion. The probe spiraled closer to the Sun for years using plasma propulsion and gravity assists at Earth, Venus, and Mercury. During the next planet encounter, Mercury's gravity will capture the craft into orbit.

Full text

The BepiColombo mission cleared a major milestone this week in the final stretch of an eight-year interplanetary voyage to Mercury, the hard-to-reach, scorching hot iron world at the Solar System's innermost frontier.

The robotic science mission, with a price tag of nearly $2 billion, is led by the European Space Agency with contributions from Japan and the United States. Since its launch in 2018, BepiColombo has spiraled closer to the Sun using a combination of plasma propulsion and a series of flybys of Earth, Venus, and Mercury. The maneuvers changed the spacecraft's velocity and steered it toward a final encounter with Mercury later this year.

Next time it reaches Mercury, BepiColombo will be traveling at just the right speed for the planet's gravity to capture the spacecraft into orbit. Scientists working on interplanetary missions are accustomed to long waits for scientific payoffs. It took nearly 10 years for NASA's New Horizons spacecraft to travel from Earth to Pluto. It turns out traveling to fleet-footed Mercury and then entering orbit requires more energy, or delta-v, than sending a probe to fly by Pluto.

🔥 Hot right now

BepiColombo approaches Mercury orbit after 8 years

Comments

Comments

You're all caught up

Scroll like on TikTok