A train for Mercury
A train for Mercury
Successfully clear the BepiColombo mission.
One of the most complex interplanetary missions in the history of interplanetary exploration is now a reality, completing years of work and study both in the European Space Agency like in Japan, the two companions on this fascinating journey. At 01:45:28 GMT on October 20, I was taking off on board a Ariane 5 from the European Spaceport of Kurú, which was followed by some delicate minutes in which the probe, actually three vehicles working together by a common goal, the planet closest to the Sun.
"The launch of BepiColombo is a fundamental milestone for the
ESA and JAXA, and inaugurates a new era of great successes"Says Jan
Wörner, CEO of ESA. "In addition to making a complex trip, the mission will provide a huge
amount of scientific material. Thanks to international collaboration
and decades of effort and knowledge applied to design and
construction of this incredible machine, we are on our way to
investigate the mysteries of Mercury"."Congratulations for the successful launch of the Ariane 5 that transports
BepiColombo, Mercury's exploration mission of ESA and JAXA"Added Hiroshi Yamakawa, president of JAXA."I want to thank for the excellent achievement that the
launch operations. We have great confidence that the
detailed observation of Mercury's surface and interior
will help to better understand the environment of the planet and, consequently, the
origin of the Solar System, including the Earth"
A long trip, 7 years and multiple overflights (1 with the land, 2 with Venus and 6 with his own Mercury), necessary not for the distance of the planet, but because traveling "downhill", towards the solar gravitational well, it is necessary to brake enough to get the orbital capture. The Mariner 10 It arrived in a few months, but she never entered orbit, she just flew over the planet. The alternative would have been some kind of propulsion system capable of achieving such extreme braking, but it was an unviable option, both technical and budgetary. When the end of 2025 completes the entry into orbit, the BepiColombo will cease to exist as such, leaving the two probes it carries free, the MPO (or Bepi) of ESA, and the MMO, (or Mio) of Japan.
Let's get to know a little more about this interplanetary mission, now that it's a reality, through a few questions and answers:
- Trip: 7.2 years and 9,000 million kilometers, with multiple overflights of the Earth, Venus Y Mercury, in order to slow down enough for the latter to capture it. As of 2026, the scientific phase of the mission will begin, at the beginning of a terrestrial year, but there is the possibility of extending it another one.
- Goals: Study in depth Mercury, from the dynamics of its magnetosphere and see how it interacts with the solar wind to the characteristics of its exosphere and inner layers. Also make maps of the chemical composition of the surface, as well as map their geological formations, impact craters, tectonics, possible volcanism and the unexpected ice deposits inside the polar craters. These data will allow scientists to know more about the origin and evolution of a planet near its star, which can be extrapolated to other stars.
- Components: Actually we are facing two probes that share the same "train", the European MPO or "Bepi", with 11 instruments and that will orbit between 480 and 1500 km from the surface, and Japanese MMO or "Mio" of the JAXA, with five instruments that will operate between 590 and 11,640 km high, and that will travel until then in the front part of the train protected by a solar shield (MOSIF).
The third component is Transfer Module (MTM), also built by the ESA, and whose mission is precisely to take their passengers to their destination, taking charge of supplying them with energy during the journey. She also has three cameras with which she will make selfies of herself and her companions, both to ensure that everything is going as planned as part of public relations.
- Communications: During the voyage and the different planetary encounters, ESOC (Germany) will coordinate with ESA's network of terrestrial stations, from which both Cebreros (Ávila) and Malargüe antennas form in Argentina. Once the separation occurs, the Center Sagamihara Space Operations of JAXA, through the 64 m antenna of Usuda (Japan) will take full control of My own, while the European network will be responsible for Bepi.
- Manufacturing: With a budget of some 2,400 million euros (1,300 from the ESA, 130 from JAXA, more diverse national contributions), it is a titanic project for the THAT, and in which a consortium of more than 80 companies from 15 countries participated, including Spain, which is widely represented by companies and universities.
- First name: It is a tribute to the scientist Giuseppe (Bepi) Colombo (1920-1984), known for having explained the peculiar characteristics of rotation of Mercury, which rotates three times on its own axis for every two orbits Sun. It was also nailed to the POT, since their proposals gave rise to the interplanetary trajectory that would allow the Mariner 10 fly over repeatedly Mercury, using for the first time gravitational assistance maneuvers in Venus, a path that will also continue BepiColombo.
- Organic: One of the legacies of the probe MESSENGER It was the discovery of ice deposits at the poles of Mercury, and the presence of dark areas in them that some astronomers identify as possible reserves of volatile organic material, rich in carbon. There are great expectations that Bepi I can observe them directly.
This is the start of one of the most ambitious missions ever faced by the THAT, which seeks to reach where it had never arrived before, and that with the company of Japan, which shares the same ambitions, will try to plant the flag of knowledge on the smallest planet and close to the Sun Of the solar system.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4pRe8yrHmI]
The beginning of the adventure.
The first image sent by one of the cameras of which the transfer module is equipped, and which allows to see one of the two solar panels of BepiColombo already deployed.
The long journey of BepiColombo. Although the mission itself will not begin until the end of 2025, it will fly over Mercury for the first time in October 2021, from which it will take many scientific data. In April 2020, he will visit our planet.
Key moments of the trip.
Scientific objectives of this joint European-Japanese mission.
The components separately: Mio (MMO), the protective shield of this first, Bepi (MPO) and the transfer module (MTM).
The Spanish participation.
BepiColombo, a European mission to uncover the secrets of Mercury
BepiColombo is already on its way to investigate the mystery of Mercury
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