by Jamie Bradshaw
Scheduled to launch on October 19th, 2018, BepiColombo will become the third ever space probe to reach Mercury, the second to ever orbit Mercury, and the first mission to the planet that is not a NASA program.
The mission will send
two probes to orbit Mercury for observations, called the MIO and the MPO. After
launch, the probes will take 7 years to reach their destination, using ion
thrusters and gravity assists. The probes will leave Earth in a hyperbolic
orbit, and enter a solar orbit similar to that of Earths. After one and a half
orbits, the probe and Earths orbits will intersect, allowing for a gravity
assist and redirection towards Venus. The probe then has 2 flybys of Venus
during its solar orbit, which adjusts the orbit enough for a Mercury flyby.
After four flybys, the probe will be in a similar orbit to Mercury, at which
point the probe will reduce its velocity with respect to Mercury over the
course of the next 2 flybys, and then enter a polar orbit using chemical
thrusters. Orbital height will then be decreased to observation height.
The MIO will be observing the magnetic fields and magnetosphere surrounding Mercury, and gathering data on the fields for further analysis on Earth. As magnetics are a speciality of the Japanese scientific community, JAXA, the Japanese space agency, have developed the MIO and will be responsible for controlling its operation once it reaches Mercury. The MPO, developed and controlled by the European Space Agency, will be attempting to determine the surface and internal chemical makeup of the planet. The large liquid iron core will be characterised, complete with gravitational and magnetic field mappings. In addition, the mission will attempt to check if there is ice in the polar regions of the planet, as some craters there are permanently in shadow, with no sunlight at all. Total surface mapping will be made possible by the polar orbit, as spacecraft in polar orbits, given time, pass over every part of a planet ESA will also be providing the launch vehicle and be responsible for the orbital transfer between Earth, and the orbital insertion.
Scheduled to launch on October 19th, 2018, BepiColombo will become the third ever space probe to reach Mercury, the second to ever orbit Mercury, and the first mission to the planet that is not a NASA program.
BepiColombo is an ESA-JAXA joint mission to explore the
planet Mercury, which is the least explored inner planet. It is named after
Giuseppe “Bepi” Colombo (1920-1984), a scientist and mathematician at the
University of Padua in Italy. He was the first scientist to come up with the
interplanetary gravity assist manoeuvre, which was used in the 1974 Mariner 10
mission, the first probe ever sent to Mercury.
 |
| Artist's depiction of the BepiColombo mission, with the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (left) and Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (right (Wiki Commons) |
The MIO will be observing the magnetic fields and magnetosphere surrounding Mercury, and gathering data on the fields for further analysis on Earth. As magnetics are a speciality of the Japanese scientific community, JAXA, the Japanese space agency, have developed the MIO and will be responsible for controlling its operation once it reaches Mercury. The MPO, developed and controlled by the European Space Agency, will be attempting to determine the surface and internal chemical makeup of the planet. The large liquid iron core will be characterised, complete with gravitational and magnetic field mappings. In addition, the mission will attempt to check if there is ice in the polar regions of the planet, as some craters there are permanently in shadow, with no sunlight at all. Total surface mapping will be made possible by the polar orbit, as spacecraft in polar orbits, given time, pass over every part of a planet ESA will also be providing the launch vehicle and be responsible for the orbital transfer between Earth, and the orbital insertion.
Comments
Post a Comment
Comments with names are more likely to be published.