1. BepiColombo Mission This mission will explore Mercury
This mission will explore Mercury
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2. Mission Objectives:
BepiColombo has been designed to provide the measurements necessary to study and understand the composition, geophysics, atmosphere, magnetosphere and history of Mercury.
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3. Mission Name:
The BepiColombo Mission is named after Professor Giuseppe (Bepi) Colombo from the University of Padua, Italy.
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4. Key Dates: October 2018………………..Launch
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Key Dates:
October 2018………………..Launch
1 May 2027…………………..End of standard mission
1 May 2028…………………..End of extended mission
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5. Spacecraft:
The BepiColombo mission is based on a transfer module and two spacecraft:
The Mercury Transfer Module (MTM). It will be jettisoned on arrival.
The Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) designed to study the planet itself.
The Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) designed to investigate the planet's magnetic field.
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7. Instruments: The Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO)
The Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO)
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9. Information on Mercury:
Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun.
Mercury's surface temperature can reach a scorching 840 o F (450 o C) during the day but can plummet to minus 275 o F (minus 170 o C) at night.
Mercury is the smallest planet — it is only slightly larger than Earth's Moon.
Since it has no significant atmosphere to stop impacts, the planet is pockmarked with craters.
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10. Information on Mercury:
Mercury’s year is 88 days and its day is 59 Earth-days. For every two orbits of the Sun, Mercury completes three rotations about its axis.
Mercury’s oval-shaped orbit is highly elliptical.
If one could stand on Mercury when it is nearest to the Sun, the Sun would appear more than three times as large as it does when viewed from Earth.
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14. BepiColombo Mission
BepiColombo will explore Mercury. Europe's space scientists have identified the mission as one of the most challenging long-term planetary projects, because Mercury's proximity to the Sun makes it difficult for a spacecraft to reach the planet and to survive in the harsh environment found there.
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15. Mission Objectives:
BepiColombo has been designed to provide the measurements necessary to study and understand the composition, geophysics, atmosphere, magnetosphere and history of Mercury. In particular, the mission has the following scientific objectives:
Investigate the origin and evolution of a planet close to the parent star
Study Mercury as a planet: its form, interior structure, geology, composition and craters
Examine Mercury's vestigial atmosphere (exosphere): its composition and dynamics
Probe Mercury's magnetized envelope (magnetosphere): its structure and dynamics
Determine the origin of Mercury's magnetic field
Investigate polar deposits: their composition and origin
Perform a test of Einstein's theory of general relativity
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16. Mission Name:
BepiColombo is named after Professor Giuseppe Colombo from the University of Padua, Italy, a mathematician and engineer of astonishing imagination.
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.
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
Giuseppe (Bepi) Colombo, grandfather of the flyby
(1920 – 1994)
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17. Key Dates: October 2018………………..Launch
10 April 2020…………….....Earth flyby
15 October 2020…………..First Venus flyby
11 August 2021…………….Second Venus flyby
2 October 2021…………….First Mercury flyby
23 June 2022………………..Second Mercury flyby
20 June 2023………………..Third Mercury flyby
5 September 2024………..Fourth Mercury flyby
2 December 2024…………Fifth Mercury flyby
9 January 2025……………..Sixth Mercury flyby
5 December 2025………...Arrival at Mercury
14 March 2026……………..MPO in final orbit
1 May 2027…………………..End of nominal mission
1 May 2028…………………..End of extended mission
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18. Spacecraft: The BepiColombo mission is based on two spacecraft:
The ESA-led Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) with an instrument suite of 11 experiments and instruments. It traces a lower-apocentre orbit and is designed to study the planet itself.
The JAXA-led Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) carrying a payload of five experiments and instruments. It follows a higher-apocentre orbit and investigates the planet's magnetic field.
Upon arrival, they will separate and enter their own orbits around Mercury.
The Mercury Transfer Module (MTM) will carry the interplanetary propulsion system, with the two solar array wings. It will be jettisoned on arrival.
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19. Instruments:
The Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) will carry a sophisticated payload of 11 instruments, comprising:
Cameras
Spectrometers (IR, UV, X-ray, γ-ray, neutron)
Radiometer
Laser altimeter
Magnetometer
Particle analyzers
Ka-band transponder
Accelerometer
The Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) will carry a payload of five advanced scientific experiments, including:
Magnetometer
Ion spectrometer
Electron energy analyser
Cold and energetic plasma detectors
Plasma wave analyser
Imager
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20. Information on Mercury:
Mercury is the closest planet to the sun. As such, it circles the Sun faster than all the other planets.
Because the planet is so close to the Sun, Mercury's surface temperature can reach a scorching 840 o F (450 o C). However, since this world doesn't have a real atmosphere to entrap any heat, at night temperatures can plummet to minus 275 o F (minus 170 o C), a temperature swing of more than 1,100 o F (600 o C), the greatest in the solar system.
Mercury is the smallest planet — it is only slightly larger than Earth's moon. Since it has no significant atmosphere to stop impacts, the planet is pockmarked with craters.
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21. Information on Mercury:
Mercury is the second densest planet after Earth, with a huge metallic core about 75 percent of the planet's diameter.
Mercury’s year is 88 days and its day is 59 Earth-days. For every two orbits of the Sun, Mercury completes three rotations about its axis.
Mercury’s oval-shaped orbit is highly elliptical, taking Mercury as close as 29 million miles (47 million km) and as far as 43 million miles (70 million km) from the Sun. If one could stand on Mercury when it is nearest to the Sun, the Sun would appear more than three times as large as it does when viewed from Earth.
No atmosphere: Mercury possesses an exosphere containing 42 percent oxygen, 29 percent sodium, 22 percent hydrogen, 6 percent helium, 0.5 percent potassium, with possible trace amounts of argon, carbon dioxide, water, nitrogen, xenon, krypton and neon.
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