BepiColombo-MMO (Mio)

Launch data: Designation  A09204 / 18080A Launch date  20 Oct 2018 - 01:45 UT Launch site  Ko, ELA-3 Launch vehicle  Ariane-5ECA (VA245) Mission  Mercury orbiter Earth orbit: Perihelion / Aphelion  170 x -78605 Eccentricity   Inclination  5.5° Period   min

BepiColombo-MMO (Japan)

Spacecraft data:

Description:

• BepiColombo, an ESA mission in cooperation with Japan, will explore Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun. Europe′s space scientists have identified the mission as one of the most challenging long-term planetary projects, largely because Mercury&primes orbit so close to the Sun makes the planet difficult for a spacecraft to reach and difficult to observe from a distance. Scientists want to study Mercury because of the valuable clues it will provide in understanding how planets form.
• The mission will consist of two separate spacecraft that will orbit the planet. ESA is building one of the main spacecraft, the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO), and the Japanese space agency ISAS/JAXA will contribute the other, the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO).
• The MMO will study Mercury′s magnetosphere, that is the region of space around the planet that is dominated by its magnetic field.
  
  

  BepiColombo-MMO unpacted at the spaceport. Credit: ESA/JAXA–G.Murakami

• The three modules of the ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission to Mercury are pictured here shortly after being unpacked at Europe′s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
  
• Centre stage is the eight-sided Japanese module, the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO), with its white high-gain antenna seen at the top of the module, tilted upward; the antenna will be used to communicate with ground-stations on Earth. To the right is ESA′s Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) – currently without its protective insulation blankets. Together the two science orbiters will conduct the most detailed scientific investigation of Mercury and its environment than ever before achieved.
  The two orbiters will be carried to the innermost planet by the Mercury Transfer Module (MTM), which can be seen in the background to the left. The solar arrays that will provide solar power to the spacecraft will be attached later.
• The journey from Earth to Mercury will also be a first. The spacecraft must brake against the Sun′s gravity, which increases with proximity to the Sun, rather than accelerate away from it, as is the case with journeys to the outer Solar System. BepiColombo will accomplish this by making clever use of the gravity of the Moon, Venus and Mercury itself and by using solar electric propulsion (SEP).
• Launch was planned for April 2018, but after a major electrical problem was detected during preparations for a thermal test of the Mercury Transfer Module (MTM), one of the major spacecraft elements of BepiColombo, the mission was delayed to October 2018. The six-month postponement will have no impact on the science return of the mission. However, the new flight time to Mercury will be 7.2 years, and BepiColombo will now arrive in December 2025, one year later than previously anticipated. The seven-year cruise to the innermost planet of our Solar System will include 9 flybys of Earth, Venus and Mercury.