BepiColombo-MPO

Launch data:

BepiColombo - cruise configuration (ESA)

BepiColombo-MPO (ESA)

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 MPO will study the surface and internal composition of the planet, and the MMO will study Mercury′s magnetosphere, that is the region of space around the planet that is dominated by its magnetic field.
• With two spacecraft, BepiColombo is a large and costly mission, one of the ′cornerstones′ in ESA′s long-term science programme. The mission presents enormous, but exciting challenges. All of ESA′s previous inter-planetary missions have been to relatively cold parts of the Solar System. BepiColombo will be the Agency′s first experience of sending spacecraft to ′hot′ regions.
• 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.

Mission details:

• The BepiColombo space probe was launched on Oct 20, 2018 from Kourou directly into Earth hyperbolic escape orbit.
• BepiColombo consists of two payloads, the ESA Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and the JAXA ′Mio′ Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO), together with two other modules, the MTM (Mercury Transfer Module, with electric propulsion) and the MOSIF (MMO Sunshield and Interface).
  MTM has 560 kg of xenon for its ion engine; it will be jettisoned just before Mercury orbit capture, in Dec 2025. The remaining three pieces will separate once they are in Mercury orbit. MTM will make a Mercury flyby and end up in solar orbit.
  MPO carries camers, spectrometers, a laser altimeter and an accelerometer among its experiments. MMO has particles, fields and dust instruments as well as an imager to map exospheric sodium atoms.
  
  
• Here are some summary details of BC′s voyage based on the prelaunch trajectory; actual details will change a little. (Date UTC)

    2018 Oct 20 0145  Launch to 170 x -78605 km x 5.5 deg Earth escape hyperbola
    2018 Oct 24 1640  Depart Earth Hill sphere, 0.887 x 1.166 AU x 0.7 deg solar orbit
    2019 Feb          In solar orbit,           0.889 x 1.196 AU x 0.8 deg
    2020 Apr 10 2112  Earth flyby                                  12563 x  -76447 km x 159.6 deg hyperbola
    2020 Apr 15 0040  In solar orbit            0.626 x 1.012 AU x 1.7 deg
    2020 Oct 15 0603  Venus flyby                                  10746 x  -33207 km x 152.4 deg hyperbola  
    2020 Oct 16 1644  In solar orbit            0.520 x 0.832 AU x 3.1 deg
    2020 Aug 10 2013  Venus flyby                                    746 x  -23004 km x 12.6 deg hyperbola
    2020 Aug 12 0629  In solar orbit            0.335 x 0.731 AU x 6.5 deg
    2021 Oct  2 0537  Mercury-1 flyby                                200 x -6101 km x 25.3 deg hyperbola
    2021 Oct  2 1500? In solar orbit            0.322 x 0.696 AU x 6.7 deg
    2022 Jun 23 1250  Mercury-2 flyby                                200 x -6191 km x 18.6 deg hyperbola
    2022 Jun 23 2230? In solar orbit            0.304 x 0.631 AU x 7.0 deg
    2023 Jun 20 0219  Mercury-3 flyby                                200 x -8425 km x 21.8 deg hyperbola
    2023 Jun 20 1600? In solar orbit            0.309 x 0.596 AU x 5.9 deg
    2024 Sep  5 0752  Mercury-4 flyby                                200 x -10801 km x 79.7 deg hyperbola
    2024 Sep  6 0100? In solar orbit            0.306 x 0.468 AU x 4.3 deg
    2024 Dec  2 0109  Mercury-5 flyby                              40000 x -51105 km x 89.5 deg hyperbola
    2024 Dec  2 1830? In solar orbit            0.307 x 0.466 AU x 4.4 deg
    2025 Jan  9 0356  Mercury-6 flyby                                340 x -18193 km x 91.9 deg hyperbola
    2025 Jan 10 1600? In solar orbit            0.312 x 0.459 AU x 7.0 deg
    2025 Oct?         Mercury Transfer Module jettison
    2025 Oct 26       Enter Mercury Hill sphere, WSB orbit capture
    2025 Oct 27       Mercury orbit                                178000 x 434000 x 6.4 deg ellipse
    2025?             Lower orbit                                  400 x 11820 km ellipse?
    2025?             Eject Mio-MMO from MPO/MOSIF
    2025?             Eject MOSIF from MPO
    2025-2026?        MPO lower orbit                              400 x 1500 km ellipse?
  

Astrophilately covers:

Launch cancel Kourou

Headquarter cancel Paris