Mercury exploration mission “BepiColombo” in Japan and Europe Finally, the first Mercury swing-by is carried out! | sorae Portal site to space

In this image, the celestial body with innumerable craters engraved on the surface is like the moon of the earth, but in fact it captures Mercury, the planet closest to the sun in the solar system. On the morning of October 2, 2021 Japan time, the spacecraft of the European Space Agency (ESA) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Mercury exploration mission “BepiColombo” will finally be the first to explore Mercury. I approached.

BepiColombo is JapanMercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO)And in EuropeMercury surface probe “MPO (Mercury Planetary Orbiter)”It is a Mercury exploration mission by two aircraft.Here in Europe, which is in charge of the flight of both spacecraft before they are put into orbit around Mercury.Electric propulsion module “MTM (Mercury Transfer Module)”With the addition of, the three aircraft are currently flying in a vertically stacked state. The opening image was taken with one of the three monitoring cameras on the Electric Propulsion Module (MTM).

[▲ An imaginary view of the BepiColombo spacecraft approaching Mercury for the first time. The electric propulsion module (MTM) is expanding the two solar array paddles. Above that is the European Mercury surface probe (MPO), and the Japanese “Mio” (MMO) is mounted inside a cylindrical sunshield (Credit: ESA / ATG medialab)].

Japanese and European spacecraft before entering the orbit of MercuryA total of 6 Mercury swingbysWe are planning to implement it.What is a swing-by?A method of changing the orbit of a spacecraft using the gravity of a celestial bodyTherefore, there is an advantage that the amount of propellant mounted on the spacecraft can be reduced compared to the case where the swing-by is not used.

BepiColombo spacecraft has already been done onceEarth swing by(April 2020) and twiceVenus swing-by(October 2020, August 2021) has been completed and will be the target of exploration in the future.Repeat swing-by using MercuryBy changing the orbit little by little, four years laterScheduled to enter Mercury’s orbit on December 5, 2025is.This time it was the first Mercury swing-bySo, according to ESA, the spacecraftApproaching 199km from the surface of Mercury at 8:34 on October 2, Japan timeDid.

It seems that the spacecraft that passed the night side of Mercury was not in good condition to acquire images before and after the closest approach.Image at the beginningAt 8:44 JST on October 2, 10 minutes after the closest approachTaken from an altitude of 2418kmIt has been.As shown in the annotated image below, the imageCalvino Crater(Calvino, 67km in diameter),Lermontov Crater(Lermontov, 166 km in diameter, labeled Lemontov in the figure),Rudaki Crater(Rudaki, diameter 124km) etc. are captured.

[▲ Annotated image at the beginning. Craters such as Calvino, Lermontov, and Rudaki are shown (Credit: ESA / BepiColombo / MTM)]

In addition, the image posted next is 6 minutes after the closest approach.8:40 on October 2, Japan timeIt was taken in, and is about 1200km lower than the image at the beginning.Altitude 1183kmIt is taken from.On the surface of Mercury in the upper right of the camera’s field of view is the 250 km long Southern Hemisphere.Astrolabe cliff(Astrolabe Rupes) is in the picture.

According to ESA, these cliffs are distributed globally on Mercury.Evidence that Mercury is shrinking as it coolsIs considered to be. Images with long shadows, such as those taken this time, are said to be useful for scientists studying the history of Mercury’s crustal movements to investigate the features of the terrain in detail.

[▲ Image taken 6 minutes after the closest approach to Mercury. The astrolabe cliff, which is one of the cliffs distributed throughout Mercury, is shown (Credit: ESA / BepiColombo / MTM)]

This Mercury swing-by is from the launch of the BepiColombo spacecraft to the insertion into the orbit around Mercury.One waypoint on a long seven-year journeyis. As mentioned above, the spacecraft must repeat the Mercury swing-by five more times before it can enter Mercury’s orbit.By Mercury spacecraft in Japan and EuropeNext Mercury swingbyteeth,June 23, 2022Is scheduled.

After my observations, the first Mercury swing-by operation was completed successfully!
The next time I’ll be back on Mercury is next June.

Thank you for supporting me a lot!
We will tell you the results of our observations again!

Our journey is still going on, so we will continue to do it!#BepiColombo #MercuryFlyby #Mio pic.twitter.com/2rhckVJDAo

— Mio (MIO) (@JAXA_MMO) October 3, 2021

Related: “Solar Orbiter” and “BepiColombo” carry out Venus swing-by one after another

Image Credit: ESA/BepiColombo/MTM
Source: ESA
Sentence / Takehiro Matsumura