MERCURY ORBIT HOW TO

Significant European contributions have also been made to the Japanese instruments. These have been provided by nationally funded Principal Investigators, one European and four from Japan. The Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter carries a payload of five advanced scientific experiments, including a magnetometer, ion spectrometer, electron energy analyser, cold and energetic plasma detectors, plasma wave analyser, and imager. Of these, ten have been provided by Principal Investigators through national funding by ESA Member States and one from Russia. The Mercury Planetary Orbiter carries a sophisticated payload of 11 instruments, comprising cameras, spectrometers (IR, UV, X-ray, γ-ray, neutron), radiometer, laser altimeter, magnetometer, particle analysers, Ka-band transponder, and accelerometer. High-temperature resistant 1.0 m X/Ka-band high-gain steerable antennaĠ.8 m X-band phased array high-gain antenna A summary of the spacecraft characteristics is given in the table below. The BepiColombo mission is based on two spacecraft: the ESA-led Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO), a three-axis stabilised and nadir pointing spacecraft with an instrument suite of 11 experiments and instruments, and the JAXA-led Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, or Mio, a spinning spacecraft carrying a payload of five experiments and instruments.

MERCURY ORBIT HOW TO

He also suggested to NASA how to use a gravity-assist swing-by of Venus to place the Mariner 10 spacecraft in a solar orbit that would allow it to fly by Mercury three times in 1974-5.ĮSA's Science Programme Committee decided at its meeting in Naples in 1999 to name the Mercury cornerstone mission in honour of Giuseppe Colombo's achievements. He was the first to see that an unsuspected resonance is responsible for Mercury's habit of rotating on its axis three times for every two revolutions it makes around the Sun. Perform a test of Einstein's theory of general relativityīepiColombo is named after Professor Giuseppe (Bepi) Colombo (1920-1984) from the University of Padua, Italy, a mathematician and engineer of astonishing imagination.

Investigate polar deposits: their composition and origin.

Determine the origin of Mercury's magnetic field.

Probe Mercury's magnetized envelope (magnetosphere): its structure and dynamics.

Examine Mercury's vestigial atmosphere (exosphere): its composition and dynamics.

Study Mercury as a planet: its form, interior structure, geology, composition and craters.

Investigate the origin and evolution of a planet close to the parent star.

In particular, the mission has the following scientific objectives: BepiColombo is a joint mission between ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), executed under ESA leadership.īepiColombo has been designed to provide the measurements necessary to study and understand the composition, geophysics, atmosphere, magnetosphere and history of Mercury. The mission comprises two spacecraft: the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (Mio). When it arrives at Mercury in late 2025, it will endure temperatures in excess of 350 ☌ and gather data during its one-year nominal mission, with a possible one-year extension. Launched on 20 October 2018, it is on a seven-year journey to the smallest and least explored terrestrial planet in our Solar System. Mio polar orbit 590 × 11 640 km, 9.3 hr periodīepiColombo is Europe's first mission to Mercury. MPO polar orbit 480 × 1500 km, 2.3 hr period Nominally one year in Mercury orbit after arriving in late 2025