Key moments during BepiColombo’s first Mercury flyby on 1 October 2021, which will see the spacecraft pass within 200 km of the planet at 23:34 UTC. The close approach and subsequent images will be downlinked one by one during Saturday morning. The first image to be downlinked will be from about 30 minutes after closest approach, and is expected to be available for public release at around 08:00 CEST on Saturday morning. Because BepiColombo is arriving on the planet's nightside, conditions are not ideal to take images directly at the closest approach, thus the closest image will be captured from a distance of about 1000 km. However, two of BepiColombo's three monitoring cameras (MCAMs) will be taking photos from about five minutes after the time of close approach and up to four hours later. BepiColombo is on track."ĭuring the flybys it is not possible to take high-resolution imagery with the main science camera because it is shielded by the transfer module while the spacecraft is in cruise configuration. "As is often the case, our mission's path has been planned so meticulously that no further correction maneuvers are expected for this upcoming flyby. With this information, the Flight Dynamics team at ESOC know just how much we need to maneuver, to be in the right place for Mercury's gravitational assist," explains Elsa Montagnon, Spacecraft Operations Manager for the mission. "It is because of our remarkable ground stations that we know where our spacecraft is with such precision. As BepiColombo is more than 100 million km away from Earth, with light taking 350 seconds (about six minutes) to reach it, being on target to within just two kilometers is no easy feat. At present, the craft is predicted to pass the innermost planet at 198 km, and small adjustments can easily be made with solar electric propulsion maneuvers after the swing-by. One week after BepiColombo's last flyby on 10 August, a correction maneuver was performed to nudge the craft a little for this first flyby of Mercury, targeting an altitude of 200 km. BepiColombo is an international collaboration between ESA and JAXA. The closest approach is at 23:34 UTC on 1 October (01:34 CEST 2 October) at a distance of about 200 km. The spacecraft makes nine gravity assist manoeuvres (one of Earth, two of Venus and six of Mercury) before entering orbit around the innermost planet of the Solar System. Visualisation of BepiColombo flying by Mercury on 1 October 2021. Gravitational flybys require extremely precise deep-space navigation work, ensuring that the spacecraft is on the correct approach trajectory. The ESA-led Mercury Planetary Orbiter and the JAXA-led Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, Mio, will study all aspects of this mysterious inner planet from its core to surface processes, magnetic field and exosphere, to better understand the origin and evolution of a planet close to its parent star.īepiColombo will make use of nine planetary flybys in total: one at Earth, two at Venus, and six at Mercury, together with the spacecraft's solar electric propulsion system, to help steer into Mercury orbit. The mission comprises two science orbiters which will be delivered into complementary orbits around the planet by the Mercury Transfer Module in 2025. It will swoop by the planet at an altitude of about 200 km, capturing imagery and science data that will give scientists a tantalizing first taste of what's to come in the main mission. Hot on the heels of its last Venus flyby in August, the spacecraft's next exciting encounter is with Mercury at 23:34 UTC on 1 October (01:34 CEST 2 October).
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