06/01/2025
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On 8 January 2025, the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission will fly simply 295 km above Mercury’s floor, with a closest strategy scheduled for 06:59 CET (05:59 UTC). It’s going to use this chance to {photograph} Mercury, make distinctive measurements of the planet’s surroundings, and fine-tune science instrument operations earlier than the primary mission begins. This sixth and remaining flyby will scale back the spacecraft’s pace and alter its route, readying it for getting into orbit across the tiny planet in late 2026.
BepiColombo is greater than six years into its eight-year journey to planet Mercury. In complete, it’s utilizing 9 planetary flybys to assist steer itself into orbit across the small rocky planet: one at Earth, two at Venus, and 6 at Mercury. Benefiting from this sixth shut strategy to the small rocky planet, BepiColombo’s cameras and numerous scientific devices will examine Mercury’s floor and environment.
BepiColombo will strategy on the night time facet of the planet. Its monitoring cameras will get essentially the most fascinating views of Mercury’s floor because the spacecraft comes round to the planet’s sunlit facet, from about 07:06 CET, seven minutes after the closest strategy. We anticipate to launch the primary photographs on 9 January, with different scientific information to observe.
“We will not wait to see what BepiColombo will reveal throughout this sixth and remaining flyby of Mercury. Whereas we’re nonetheless two years away from the mission’s foremost science part, we anticipate this encounter to supply us with stunning photographs and necessary scientific insights into the least-explored terrestrial planet,” says Geraint Jones, ESA’s BepiColombo Venture Scientist.
Warming up for Mercury’s shadow
Whereas Mercury’s sunlit facet is scorching, the primary a part of the upcoming flyby shall be spent on Mercury’s chilly, darkish night time facet. Whereas in Mercury’s shadow, BepiColombo won’t obtain any direct daylight for greater than 23 minutes and can rely solely on its batteries.
Mission operators on the European Area Operations Centre (ESOC) are gearing up for this crucial second of the flyby. Someday forward of the eclipse, they are going to heat up the spacecraft and solely cease the heating a couple of minutes earlier than BepiColombo enters Mercury’s shadow. This operation will assist save battery energy by making certain that the spacecraft doesn’t want to make use of its heaters in the course of the eclipse.
“That is the primary time BepiColombo stays within the shadow of Mercury for thus lengthy. Now we have totally charged its batteries and raised the temperature of all elements. From ESA’s mission management centre, we are going to hold a detailed watch on the battery standing and the temperature of all programs in the course of the flyby,” says Ignacio Clerigo, BepiColombo’s Spacecraft Operations Supervisor.
The Italian Spring Accelerometer (ISA) will document the accelerations felt by the spacecraft because it experiences not solely the gravitational pull of the planet, but additionally the change in photo voltaic radiation and temperature because the spacecraft enters and exits Mercury’s shadow. ISA may even document any actions and vibrations of the spacecraft brought on by the movement of, for instance, the spacecraft’s photo voltaic arrays.
Key views of Mercury’s shadowy north pole
Excitingly, BepiColombo’s route takes it proper over Mercury’s north pole. This enables the spacecraft to look down into craters whose insides by no means get touched by the Solar. Regardless of temperatures reaching 450 °C on Mercury’s sunlit floor, the polar ‘everlasting shadow areas’ are actually ice-cold.
Knowledge gathered by devices on NASA’s Messenger spacecraft between 2011 and 2015, plus radar observations from Earth, have offered sturdy proof for water ice in a few of these craters. Whether or not there may be actually water ice on scorching Mercury is among the prime 5 mysteries that BepiColombo has got down to remedy.
Throughout this flyby, BepiColombo’s monitoring digicam 1 (M-CAM 1) ought to get some good views of the completely shadowed Prokofiev, Kandinsky and Tolkien craters.
Different thrilling options that BepiColombo’s monitoring cameras will see are the deep Stieglitz and Gaudí craters, Mercury’s largest impression crater (the greater than 1500 km-wide Caloris Basin), and the huge northern plains often known as Borealis Planitia.
Beneath is a simulation of M-CAM 1’s views of Mercury in the course of the flyby, utilizing a digital topography mannequin ready by the Messenger mission group. There’s a hole on this mannequin across the poles. BepiColombo’s upcoming flyby views, and the mission’s polar orbits round Mercury from 2026, will tremendously enhance the protection in these areas.
Extra perception into Mercury’s environment
BepiColombo’s sixth flyby additionally takes it on a novel route by Mercury’s magnetic and particle surroundings. The spacecraft will fly by areas round Mercury that have not been sampled earlier than and components of which will not be visited by BepiColombo throughout the primary science part of its mission.
The upcoming flyby route, crossing the equator reverse the Solar on Mercury’s night time facet earlier than flying over the planet’s north pole, makes it significantly fascinating. In darkness, the spacecraft will go by areas the place charged particles can stream from the planet’s magnetic tail in the direction of its floor. On the poles, in areas referred to as the cusps, planetary magnetic subject strains additionally funnel particles coming from the Solar all the way down to Mercury’s floor. The spacecraft will go by the northern cusp.
Two particle analysers (SERENA and MPPE) will ‘style’ the particles in these fascinating areas, components of which received’t be visited when orbiting the planet. In the meantime, two magnetometers (MPO-MAG and MMO-MGF) will sense Mercury’s magnetic subject, whereas a mud monitor (MDM) will measure bigger mud particles. (Learn extra about BepiColombo’s science devices on ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter.)
This may construct on measurements taken throughout BepiColombo’s earlier Mercury flybys, in addition to by NASA’s Messenger mission.
About BepiColombo
Launched on 20 October 2018, BepiColombo is a joint mission between the European Area Company (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Company (JAXA), executed underneath ESA management. It’s Europe’s first mission to Mercury.
The mission contains two scientific orbiters: ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (Mio). The European Mercury Switch Module (MTM) carries the orbiters to Mercury.
After arrival at Mercury in late 2026, the spacecraft will separate and the 2 orbiters will manoeuvre to their devoted polar orbits across the planet. Beginning science operations in early 2027, each orbiters will collect information throughout a one-year nominal mission, with a potential one-year extension.
All M-CAM photographs shall be made publicly accessible within the Planetary Science Archive.
For extra data, please contact:
ESA media relations
media@esa.int
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