BepiColombo Mission Nears Mercury After Seven-Year Journey
After seven years traversing the inner solar system, the BepiColombo mission is on the verge of reaching its destination. The joint European Space Agency (ESA) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) spacecraft will arrive at Mercury on September 3, marking the culmination of a journey that began in October 2018.
BepiColombo consists of two orbiters traveling as a single composite spacecraft. The Mercury Planetary Orbiter, built by ESA, will map Mercury's surface and study the planet's geology and composition. The Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, provided by JAXA, will investigate Mercury's magnetic field and its interaction with the solar wind.
The mission takes its name from Italian scientist Giuseppe "Bepi" Colombo, who contributed to the development of the Mariner 10 mission. The spacecraft employs a combination of ion thrusters and gravity assists from Earth, Venus, and Mercury itself to achieve orbit around the solar system's innermost planet.
Once in orbit, the spacecraft will begin a nominal one-year mission to study Mercury's unexpectedly complex environment. Scientists hope the data will help explain how a planet so close to the Sun formed and evolved, and why Mercury retains a magnetic field when similar-sized Venus does not.