Watch Mercury appear from the shadows as the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo spacecraft sped by the planet’s night side during its 19 June 2023 close flyby, and enjoy a special flyover of geologically rich terrain.
Credits: Image: ESA/BepiColombo/MTM, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO; Music composed by ILĀ. Shape from shading processing and animation (using Unity) by K. Wohlfarth and M. Tenthoff (TU Dortmund), based on techniques described by Tenthoff et al. (2020) and Domingue et al. (2015) with a global terrain model from Becker et al. (2016).
Music: Tim Garland – Moonlight Mystery
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We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
Watch Mercury appear from the shadows as the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo spacecraft sped by the planet’s night side during its 19 June 2023 close flyby, and enjoy a special flyover of geologically rich terrain.
The first part of the movie is composed of 217 images captured by BepiColombo’s monitoring camera M-CAM3. The image sequence starts from 19:46:25 UTC on 19 June 2023, at an altitude of 1 789 km above the planet’s surface, and ends at 20:34:25 UTC on 20 June 2023, when BepiColombo was 331 755 km away. The image cadence was roughly once per minute around closest approach, but much slower in the later phases.
The second part of the movie cuts to a flyover of a special region of interest, rotating around features such as the 600 km-long Beagle Rupes curved escarpment and the elongated Sveinsdóttir impact crater that it cuts through. It also features the 218 km-wide Manley Crater and the straight Challenger Rupes scarp. At the end, the animated topography fades out and the projected image used for 3D reconstruction appears. Regions like these will be important for BepiColombo’s main science mission, to learn more about Mercury’s geological history.
Music was composed for the sequence by ILĀ, with the assistance of AI tools developed by the Machine Intelligence for Musical Audio (MIMA) group, University of Sheffield.
Credits: Image: ESA/BepiColombo/MTM, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO; Music composed by ILĀ. Shape from shading processing and animation (using Unity) by K. Wohlfarth and M. Tenthoff (TU Dortmund), based on techniques described by Tenthoff et al. (2020) and Domingue et al. (2015) with a global terrain model from Becker et al. (2016).
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We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
The ESA/ @JAXA-HQ BepiColombo mission has made its second gravity assist of planet Mercury, capturing new close-up images as it steers closer towards Mercury orbit in 2025.
The closest approach took place at 09:44 UTC (11:44 CEST) on 23 June 2022, about 200 km above the planet’s surface. Images from the spacecraft’s three monitoring cameras (MCAM), along with scientific data from a number of instruments, were collected during the encounter.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
A sonification of data recorded by the Italian Spring Accelerometer (ISA) aboard the BepiColombo Mercury Planetary Orbiter spacecraft during the flyby of Venus on 10 August 2021. The accelerometer data was converted to frequency to be made audible to the human ear. The resulting sound is rich with interesting effects due to the planet’s gravity acting on the spacecraft structure, the response of the spacecraft to the rapid temperature changes, and the change in reaction wheel velocity as they work hard to compensate for these effects.
The audio has been matched to the timing that the images seen in this movie were captured, in the moments after closest approach.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
A stunning sequence of 89 images taken by the monitoring cameras on board the European-Japanese BepiColombo mission to Mercury, as the spacecraft made a close approach of Venus on 10 August 2021.
The sequence includes images from all three Monitoring Cameras (MCAM) onboard the Mercury Transfer Module, which provides black-and-white snapshots in 1024 x 1024 pixel resolution. It is not possible to image with the high-resolution camera suite during the cruise phase. The images have been lightly processed to enhance contrast and use the full dynamic range. A small amount of optical vignetting is seen in the corners of some of the images.
The first image is from MCAM 1, and was taken at 13:41:02 UTC, prior to close approach. As such, the spacecraft was still on the nightside of the planet, but the dayside can just be seen creeping into view. Part of the spacecraft’s solar array can also be seen.
The second image was taken by MCAM 2 at 13:51:56 UTC, two seconds after closest approach. With the Venus surface just 552 km away, the planet fills the entire field of view. The camera is not able to image detail of the planet’s atmosphere. The image also captures the Mercury Planetary Orbiter’s medium gain antenna and magnetometer boom.
The rest of the sequence is from MCAM 3, while the spacecraft was pointed at Venus, and then as it slews away and gradually recedes from view, covering the time period 13:53:56 UTC on 10 August until 12:21:26 UTC on 11 August. The high gain antenna of the Mercury Planetary Orbiter is also seen changing orientation as it points towards Earth.
The music accompanying the compilation was composed especially for the occasion, by @Anna Phoebe.
The images were captured during the second of two Venus flybys, and the third of nine flybys overall. The flybys are gravity assist manoeuvres needed to help steer the spacecraft on course for Mercury. During its seven-year cruise to the smallest and innermost planet of the Solar System, BepiColombo makes one flyby at Earth, two at Venus and six at Mercury in order to approach the orbit around Mercury. Its first Mercury flyby will take place 1-2 October 2021 from a distance of just 200 km.
BepiColombo, which comprises ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter of @JAXA | 宇宙航空研究開発機構, is scheduled to reach its target orbit around the smallest and innermost planet of the Solar System in 2025. The spacecraft will separate and enter into their respective orbits before starting their science mission in early 2026 .
Credit: ESA/BepiColombo/MTM, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Music composed by Anna Phoebe, with additional soundscapes by Mark McCaughrean
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We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
With a simple Google Cardboard-style virtual reality (VR) viewer, you can experience how it feels to be a spacecraft hurtling past Earth. This 360-degree VR simulation of a flyby manoeuvre performed by ESA’s Mercury-bound BepiColombo spacecraft takes you on a trip past Earth at the distance of only 12 700 km, closer than the orbit of Europe’s navigational satellites Galileo.
The simulation displays the field of view of two of BepiColombo’s science instruments (MERTIS and PHEBUS) and two of its three MCAM selfie cameras during the gravity-assist flyby at Earth on 10 April 2020.
The simulation was created using the SPICE software developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and data generated by the European Space and Astronomy Centre (ESAC)in Spain.
BepiColombo, a joint mission of ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), is on a seven-year cruise to Mercury, the smallest and innermost planet of the Solar System. Launched in October 2018, BepiColombo follows an intricate trajectory that involves nine gravity-assist flyby manoeuvres. In addition to the flyby at Earth, BepiColombo will perform two flybys at Venus and six at Mercury, its target planet. The manoeuvres slow down the spacecraft as it needs to constantly brake against the gravitational pull of the Sun in order to be able to enter the correct orbit around Mercury in 2025, ahead of commencing science operations in early 2026.
Credit: ESA SPICE Service/RHEA Group.
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We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out http://www.esa.int/ESA to get up to speed on everything space related.
This year saw ESA’s science exploration mission BepiColombo begin its seven year cruise to the innermost planet of our Solar System: Mercury. This timelapse recalls some of the preparations that went into readying the mission at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
The mission, a joint endeavour between ESA and JAXA, comprises three spacecraft modules: ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter that will study all aspects of Mercury from their complementary orbits around the planet, and ESA’s Mercury Transfer Module that will bring them to the planet using a combination of solar electric propulsion and nine planetary flybys.
The video includes testing of the individual spacecraft units, stacking of the three modules and a protective sunshield into their launch configuration, integration of the spacecraft inside the launcher fairing, roll out to the launch pad, and finally launch itself. The mission lifted off at 01:45:28 GMT on 20 October 2018.
ESA is Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out http://www.esa.int/ESA to get up to speed on everything space related.
BepiColombo, Europe’s first mission to Mercury, launched on 20 October 2018. The spacecraft began its seven year journey by unfurling antennas and solar arrays, taking a few selfies and deploying a three metre magnetometer boom. The spacecraft, a joint mission between ESA and the Japanese space agency JAXA, will soon engage its solar propulsion engine but meanwhile scientists are busy preparing for BepiColombo’s arrival in 2025.
ESA is Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out http://www.esa.int/ESA to get up to speed on everything space related.
Highlights from the days up to and including the exciting launch of the ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission to Mercury.
BepiColombo launched at 01:45 GMT from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. It will make a seven year cruise to Mercury, flying by Earth once, Venus twice and Mercury six times before entering orbit.
It is the first European mission to Mercury, the smallest and least explored planet in the inner Solar System, and the first to send two spacecraft to make complementary measurements of the planet and its dynamic environment at the same time. The mission comprises two science orbiters: ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO). The ESA-built Mercury Transfer Module (MTM) will carry the orbiters to Mercury using a combination of solar electric propulsion and gravity assist flybys.
ESA is Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out http://www.esa.int/ESA to get up to speed on everything space related.
Mercury is a planetary misfit, an oddball in the solar system, and this month the BepiColombo mission is setting off to study it in unprecedented detail.
The best images we have of Mercury are from NASA’s MESSENGER mission, which pictured its cratered surface and curious features earlier this decade.
Soon, the joint European and Japanese BepiColombo mission will head there to take an even closer look.
ESA is Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out http://www.esa.int/ESA to get up to speed on everything space related.
Meet Bepi, Mio and MTM, three new space explorers about to start an extraordinary journey to Mercury, a planet of extremes and mysteries.
Find out how these bold spacecraft have been preparing for their epic adventure, from space school to flyby practice. Watch as their training covers not only planetary science and space education, but also cultural aspects of their places of origin: Bepi and MTM were born in Europe, while Mio comes from Japan.
Follow Bepi, Mio and MTM as they become fascinated by their destination thanks to the curious discoveries made by their cousin Messenger. Learn about the science questions that Bepi and Mio will investigate, from Mercury’s geology and surface composition to the magnetic field and its interaction with the solar wind.
Finally, walk with them to the launch pad and wish them a great start to a memorable adventure.
ESA is Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out http://www.esa.int/ESA to get up to speed on everything space related.
BepiColombo is scheduled for launch at 01:45 GMT (03:45 CEST) on 20 October on an Ariane 5 from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou.
Final assembly of the two orbiters and transfer module has taken place, ready for the spacecraft to be integrated into its Ariane 5 launcher.
BepiColombo is Europe’s first mission to Mercury, the smallest and least explored planet in the inner Solar System. It is a joint endeavour between ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA, and consists of two scientific orbiters: ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO). The mission will study all aspects of Mercury, from the structure and dynamics of its magnetosphere and how it interacts with the solar wind, to its internal structure with its large iron core, and the origin of the planet’s magnetic field.
ESA is Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out http://www.esa.int/ESA to get up to speed on everything space related.
Ken Neiss, Communication Radio Frequency Onboard Network Utilization Specialist (CRONUS) ISS Flight Controller from Johnson Space Center in Houston Texas hosts Cloverdale Aerospace Technology Middle School from Little Rock Arkansas. NASA DLN broadcasts are connecting students around the country with the live mission operations being done by the International Space Station Flight Control Team. ISS flight controllers, astronauts and scientists often answer student’s questions about living and working in space, how the Houston mission control center operates, and a wealth of other topics related to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.
NASA Johnson Space Center Aerospace Engineer Jason Barbour answers questions from 5th grade students at Public School 174 Queens in Queens, New York during a NASA Digital Learning Network (DLN) interactive broadcast.
NASA DLN broadcasts are connecting students around the country with the live mission operations being done by the International Space Station Flight Control Team. ISS flight controllers, astronauts and scientists answer student’s questions about living and working in space, how the Houston mission control center operates, and a wealth of other topics related to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.
