BepiColombo is already on its way to investigate the mysteries of Mercury
BepiColombo is already on its way to investigate the mysteries of Mercury
The Mercury mission of ESA-JAXA, BepiColombo, took off on board an Ariane-5ECA rocket (VA245) from Kuru's European Spaceport at 01:45:28 GMT on October 20, kicking off an exciting journey to investigate the mysteries of the innermost planet of the Solar System.
The signals from the ship, received at the ESA control center in Darmstadt (Germany) through the New Norcia ground tracking station at 02:21 GMT, confirmed the success of the launch.
BepiColombo is the result of the joint effort of ESA and the Japanese Agency for Aerospace Exploration (JAXA). This is the first European mission to Mercury, the smallest and least explored planet in the inner Solar System, and the first to send two orbiters that will make simultaneous and complementary measurements of the planet and its dynamic environment.
"The launch of BepiColombo is a milestone for ESA and JAXA, and opens a new era of great success," says Jan Wörner, CEO of ESA.
"In addition to taking a complex trip, the mission will provide an enormous amount of scientific material. Thanks to international collaboration and decades of effort and knowledge applied to the design and construction of this incredible machine, we are already on our way to investigate the mysteries of Mercury. "
Hiroshi Yamakawa, president of JAXA, is also satisfied: "Congratulations on the successful launch of the Ariane 5 transported by BepiColombo, the exploration mission of Mercury of ESA and JAXA".
(Photo: 2018 ESA-CNES-Arianespace)
"I want to thank for the excellent achievement that the launching operations have meant. JAXA has great confidence that detailed observation of Mercury's surface and interior will help us better understand the planet's environment and, consequently, the origin of the Solar System, including Earth. "
BepiColombo comprises two scientific orbiter: the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO), of the ESA, and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO, or "Mio"), of the JAXA. The Mercury Transfer Module (MTM), built by ESA, will transport them to Mercury through a combination of solar-electric propulsion and gravitational assist maneuvers. Thus, the mission will once fly over the Earth, twice Venus and six times Mercury, before entering orbit around the latter at the end of 2025.
"We have a long and exciting road ahead before BepiColombo starts collecting data for the scientific community," says Günther Hasinger, Science Director of ESA.
"Previous missions, such as Rosetta and its pioneering discoveries, even when completed, show us that the most complex scientific exploration missions are well worth the wait."
The two scientific orbiters will be able to operate some of their instruments during the cruise phase, which will provide unique opportunities to collect data of scientific value on Venus. In addition, some of the instruments designed to study Mercury in a certain way can be used in a completely different way on Venus, which has a dense atmosphere compared to the exposed surface of Mercury.
"BepiColombo is one of the most complex interplanetary missions we have ever launched," acknowledges Andrea Accomazzo, Flight Director of BepiColombo of ESA.
"One of the biggest difficulties is due to the enormous gravity of the Sun, which makes it difficult to place a ship in a stable orbit around Mercury. We have to continually brake to ensure controlled descent to the Sun, while the ion thrusters provide the low thrust needed during the long cruise phase. "
Another challenge is the extreme temperature that the ship will endure, from -180 ºC to more than 450 ºC: a warmer environment than the interior of an oven. Many of the ship's mechanisms and external coatings have not yet been tested in such conditions.
The general design of the three modules also gives an account of the conditions they will face. The large solar panels of the transfer module should be tilted at the proper angle to avoid damage by radiation, but still provide sufficient energy to the ship. The MPO has a radiator that will dissipate the heat of its subsystems; In addition, it will reflect radiation while flying over Mercury at a lower altitude than ever before. Mio, with its octagonal shape, will rotate at a speed of 15 revolutions per minute to evenly distribute the Sun's heat through its panels and prevent overheating.
"Seeing our ship take off to space is the moment we were all waiting for," says Ulrich Reininghaus, head of the BepiColombo project at ESA. Throughout these years we have overcome many obstacles, and the teams are delighted to have BepiColombo on the way to the enigmatic Mercury. "
A few months before reaching its destination, the transfer module will detach itself and allow the two scientific orbiters, still interconnected, to be captured by the gravity of Mercury.
Its altitude will be adjusted thanks to the MPO thrusters until the MMO reaches the desired elliptical polar orbit. Next, the MPO will separate and descend to its own orbit using its propellers.
Together, the two orbiters will make measurements that will reveal the internal structure of the planet, the nature of its surface and the evolution of its geological formations, including the ice in the planet's shadow craters, as well as the interaction between the planet and the solar wind. .
"A unique aspect of this mission is that we will have two ships monitoring the planet from two different locations at the same time: this really will be key to understanding processes associated with the impact of the solar wind on the surface of Mercury and its magnetic environment," adds Johannes Benkhoff, scientist of the BepiColombo project of the ESA.
"BepiColombo will start from the discoveries and questions raised by NASA's Messenger mission to better understand the evolution of Mercury and the Solar System so far, which in turn is essential to understand how planets orbiting are formed and evolved. of its stars in exoplanetary systems ". (Source: ESA)
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9WjZsVJfp8?wmode=transparent&jqoemcache=OX9t9]
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